Intrapericardial Paraganglioma Directly Irrigated by the Right Coronary Artery

Abstract

We present a case of a nonfunctioning intrapericardial paraganglioma that presented as a typical chest pain in a 51-year-old woman. The tumor was initially diagnosed on coronary angiography where it had direct irrigation from the right coronary artery. Further computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging scans showed significant compression of the superior vena cava by the tumor. This was excised through median sternotomy and extracorporeal circulation. Histopathological examination of the mass was characteristic of a paraganglioma.

Unresectable cardiac paraganglioma – a rare case of clinically malignant tumor in an 8-year-old girl

“…Because of the invasive nature of the tumor, many patients require extensive reconstructions of the involved tissues and even auto-transplantation of the heart. A successful resection of the tumor without cardiopulmonary bypass was reported very rarely, and usually if the hormonal activity of the tumor was known, alpha blockade was used to prevent catecholamine-related complications [5, 6]. In our patient, the nature of the tumor before harvesting the biopsy was unknown.…”

Diagnosis and Outcome of Cardiac Paragangliomas: A Retrospective Observational Cohort Study in China

“…Catecholamine oversecretion can cause cardiovascular and metabolic abnormalities such as elevation of heart rate and blood pressure (BP) and increased cardiac conduction velocity and myocardial contractility. CPGLs may also induce myocardial infarction and dyspnea when surrounding structures are involved, even in patients with nonfunctional tumors (3)(4)(5). Most previous CPGL research has focused on surgical treatments including resection and transplantation (6,7).…”