A rare intracardiac mass: cardiac paraganglioma

Abstract

It is very rare for heart tissue to give rise to a primary paraganglioma. Here, we report the observation of such a tumour in a 34-year-old woman who presented with symptoms of pulmonary venous congestion. The findings from echocardiography were consistent with the diagnosis of a myxoma that was partially occluding the left atrium. Surgery was performed in which a large (6 cm x 5 cm x 3 cm), non-lobulated solid tumour was resected from the posterior wall of the atrium. Upon histologic evaluation, this was determined to be a cardiac paraganglioma.