Mediastinal paragangliomas (aortic body tumor): a report of four cases and a review of the literature.

Four cases of paraganglioma originating in the supra-aortic or aortico-pulmonary bodies are described. A review of the reported examples of aortic body tumors and a study of these four cases indicate that there is a high incidence of aggressive tumor growth in the mediastinum, with resultant important morbidity or death in 16 of 35 cases. The morphologic features of aortic body tumors are identical to those of paragangliomas of other locations, and the occurrence of invasive growth and/or metastasis cannot be predicted on histologic grounds.