Nonfunctioning paraganglioma of the aortopulmonary window.

Aortopulmonary paraganglioma is a rare tumor of the mediastinum. The only effective treatment is complete resection, which may pose a surgical challenge because of its proximity to the heart, great vessels, and trachea, often rendering a complete resection difficult to achieve. We report a case in which the tumor was excised under cardiopulmonary bypass and resulted in massive bleeding only controlled by means of packing the pleural cavity during 48 hours, known as damage control strategy. The patient survived and has been disease-free for 2 years.