Multimodality evaluation of cardiac paraganglioma

Abstract

We report 2 rare cases of primary cardiac paraganglioma demonstrated with multimodality imaging. Both a 46-year-old woman who presented with hypertension (case 1) and a 46-year-old woman without any symptoms (case 2) had mediastinal tumors depicted by CT and MRI. Both cases showed intense focal uptakes in the tumors with iodine-123-meta-iodobenzylguanidine SPECT. Case 2 also underwent 18F-FDG PET/CT and revealed a focal uptake. CT angiography detected the arterial feeder and venous drainages, information that was useful for the operation. After surgical removal, pathology confirmed primary cardiac paraganglioma in both cases. 18F-FDG PET/CT was also useful in ruling out residual or recurrent tumors.