MRI appearance of functioning posterior mediastinal paraganglioma

Abstract We report a case of functioning paraganglioma occurring within the posterior mediastinum, an uncommon location for this tumor. When unsuspected, paraganglioma may expose the patient to anaesthetic risk upon surgical manipulation. On MRI, the presence of signal void within the mass on both T1 and T2 weighted images (WI) are related to the high vascularity of the paraganglioma and is helpful in suggesting the diagnosis.