Summary Castleman disease is an uncommon disorder affecting the lymphatic system and is characterised by atypical lymphocyte proliferation. The usual clinical presentation is of a solitary mass lesion, frequently within the thorax. A number of different imaging findings have been reported on CT and MRI. We present a case of paracardiac Castleman disease where the diagnosis was suggested by dramatic enhancement of the tumour mass during a dynamic MR perfusion sequence. To our knowledge this is the first report of the use of a first pass bolus tracking technique in the diagnosis of Castleman disease.