Contemporary surgical management of cardiac paragangliomas

Background: Cardiac paragangliomas are an extremely rare subset of chromaffin cell tumors that develop from neural crest cells. Methods: Between March 2004 and October 2010, 7 male patients from our two institutions who underwent surgical resection of cardiac paraganglioma were retrospectively reviewed. Results: 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%. Conclusions: 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.