Contemporary Surgical Management of Cardiac Paragangliomas

• DOI: 10.1016/j.athoracsur.2012.02.040
• Publication Date: 2012-04-25T00:46:05Z
• Authors: Basel Ramlawi; Elizabeth A. David; Min P. Kim; Luis J. Garcia-Mo...; Shanda H. Blackmon; David C. Rice; Ara A. Vaporciyan; Michael J. Reardon
• Keywords: Adult; Male; Paraganglioma, Extra-Adrenal; Reoperation; Neoplasm, Residual; Coronary Angiography; Transplantation, Autologous; 3. Good health; Heart Neoplasms; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; Humans; Heart Atria; Aorta; Follow-Up Studies; Retrospective Studies

Cardiac paragangliomas are an extremely rare subset of chromaffin cell tumors that develop from neural crest cells.Between March 2004 and October 2010, 7 male patients from our two institutions who underwent surgical resection of cardiac paraganglioma were retrospectively reviewed.In 5 patients, paragangliomas originated from the roof of the left atrium, and in 2 patients, they originated from the aortic root. Hospital mortality was 14%.Complete surgical resection remains the mainstay of therapy and can be curative, but carries a significant risk of intraoperative bleeding and usually requires cardiopulmonary bypass and often complex resection techniques, including cardiac autotransplantation.