Bronchogenic cysts arise from an abnormal budding of the ventral diverticulum of the foregut or the tracheobronchial tree during embryogenesis. Pericardial location of these cysts is very rare. We describe a case of a young asymptomatic woman with an intrapericardial cystic mass compressing the right heart. Because of severe adhesions of the mass to the ascending aorta and to the right coronary artery, these structures were injured during surgical resection requiring the replacement of the ascending aorta and a coronary artery by-pass graft. Only the histopathologic findings provided the final diagnosis.
Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.