Co-existent epicardial paraganglioma and anterior mediastinal thymoma

Thymoma and paraganglioma are known causes of mediastinal masses, the latter being extremely rare. Thymomas arise from remnant thymic tissue in the anterior mediastinum; whereas, thoracic paragangliomas arise from paraaortic or para-vertebral sympathetic chain ganglion (derivatives of embryonic neural crest) in the middle or posterior mediastinum. We report a case of a middle-aged woman with two mediastinal masses, originally believed to be a single tumor or primary malignancy with adjacent metastasis on Computed Tomography (CT) that were further delineated with Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and [68Ga]-DOTA-(Tyr3)-octreotate (DOTA-TATE) Positron Emission Tomography-Computed Tomography (PET-CT) and surgical pathology as two distinct entities: left epicardial paraganglioma and anterior mediastinal thymoma. A comprehensive discussion of both entities is included.