[Posterior mediastinal paraganglioma].

We report a case of 26-year-old man with a posterior mediastinal paraganglioma. Although he was asymptomatic, chest abnormal shadow was pointed out by the regular medical screening with chest X-rays. A chest computed tomography (CT) showed a left posterior mediastinal tumor with strong enhancement. He was referred to our hospital for surgery. We tried a video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) for resection of the tumor, but additional small thoracoscopy was necessary for control of bleeding. The patient's vital sign was stable at perioperative course. The histopathological examination revealed no evidence of malignancy, and a final diagnosis of paraganglioma was made. His postoperative course was uneventful, and is currently doing well without sign of recurrence. Because metastasis and/or local recurrence of paragangliomas is difficult to predict accurately only by histopathological finding, long-term follow-up is thought to be essential after surgery.