Mediastinal aortopulmonary paraganglioma

Mediastinal paragangliomas are rare neural-crest derived tumors arising from para-aortic sympathetic chain ganglia in the middle mediastinum and paravertebral ganglia in the posterior mediastinum. They are extremely rare tumors, accounting for 1 to 2 per cent of all paragangliomas and <0.3 per cent of mediastinal neoplasms; they are usually classified into two types: aortopulmonary paraganglioma, arising in the anterior or middle mediastinum and aorto-sympathetic paraganglioma, occurring in the posterior mediastinum. Here, we report a case of nonsecreting aortopulmonary mediastinal paraganglioma in a 40-year-old male patient, successfully treated by surgical resection without the need of cardiopulmonary bypass.