Vagal Schwannoma, right

18-year-old male with a palpable right neck mass and no other abnormality. There is a partially circumscribed, T1- and STIR-mildly hyperintense mass arising along the posteromedial aspect of the right carotid sheath. The lesion heterogeneously enhances, with a cystic component extending more inferiorly. The differential diagnosis includes vagal schwannoma versus paraganglioma. This lesion was resected and found to be a right sided vagal schwannoma. A schwannoma is a benign slow-groing encapsulated nerve sheath tumor composed os Schwann cells in a collagenous matrix. Most extracranial schwannomas are found in the parapharyngeal space and typically arise from the vagus nerve. They are slow growing and typically asymptomatic otherwise.