Primary Retropharyngeal Neuroblastoma

Neuroblastoma is the most frequent extracerebral tumor in infants younger than 1 year. It is most often localized in the abdomen or thorax. A cervical localization is rare, and in the majority of cases, the tumor is located in the lateral region of the neck, lateral to the carotid artery. 1 We describe a newborn boy who presented with difficulty in breathing associated with a retropharyngeal neuroblastoma. A retropharyngeal localization is exceptional, and, to our knowledge, there have been no previous reports in which retropharyngeal neuroblastomas were differentiated from lateral cervical neuroblastomas. Our goal is to emphasize the surgical importance of differentiating retropharyngeal cervical neuroblastomas from laterocervical neuroblastomas and to present their clinical and therapeutic characteristics.