Cardiac Paragangliomas

Abstract

Cardiac paraganglioma is a rare entity. We review the clinical data from 158 patients reported in 132 isolated papers, and discuss clinical presentations, imaging findings, pathology, location, therapy, and outcomes.

Imaging of Cardiac and Pericardial Masses

“…They arise from the neuroendocrine cells in the normal cardiac ganglia and may come from visceral paraganglia in the left atrium, most frequently in the posterior wall or the left atrial roof, or from the interatrial septum or paraganglia along the coronary arteries [9]. Patients are usually younger adults, with a mean age of 39.7 years at diagnosis [50,51]. In cases of functioning paragangliomas, patients may present with symptoms of catecholamine overproduction such as hypertension, headaches, palpitations, and diaphoresis [51].…”

“…Patients are usually younger adults, with a mean age of 39.7 years at diagnosis [50,51]. In cases of functioning paragangliomas, patients may present with symptoms of catecholamine overproduction such as hypertension, headaches, palpitations, and diaphoresis [51]. At echocardiography, paragangliomas typically appear as large, echogenic masses, and encasement of the coronary arteries may be seen [9].…”

Primary cardiac leiomyosarcoma: An analysis of clinical characteristics and outcome patterns

“…3 According to our previous studies, the outcome of cardiac malignancies is dependent on tumor type, clinical features, and treatment strategies. [4][5][6][7][8] For example, the overall survival (OS) pattern of primary cardiac synovial sarcomas was affected by age and chemo-/radiotherapy. 6 The prognosis of primary cardiac undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcomas was very poor even though complete resection and aggressive chemotherapy were performed.…”

Multimodality imaging of a cardiac paraganglioma

“…In 2014 Wang et al. [3] published a review article, where they identified 158 reported cases of cardiac paragangliomas in the English language PubMed database. They found male-to-female ratio of 0.86 and mean age at diagnosis of 39.7 years.…”

“…When present, symptoms in patients with IPP are usually secondary to excessive catecholamine excretion by the tumor, resulting in headaches, palpitations, diaphoresis, and systemic arterial hypertension [3].…”