Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is a chronic vasculitis of large- and medium-sized vessels that can lead to acute aortic adverse events. We describe a 74-year-old female patient who presented with acute-on-chronic aortic dissection. Her pathology was significant for aortitis in the setting of giant cell arteritis. The patient ultimately underwent successful repair of her dissection and was discharged home.

Cardiac paragangliomas are extremely rare cardiac masses. Our patient presented with angina secondary to coronary atherosclerosis and was incidentally found to have a large cardiac mass on coronary angiography. He underwent a full imaging workup and ultimately excision of the mass. Final pathology demonstrated paraganglioma. This case illustrates the presentation, workup, and definitive treatment of this rare tumor.