Carotid body tumors: case series of extremely rare head and neck paragangliomas

Abstract

Carotid body tumors, also commonly known as nonchromaffin paragangliomas and chemodectomas, is a slowly growing neoplasm originating from carotid body chemoreceptors. Herein we have presented a case series of surgical treatment of patients with carotid body tumors in National Scientific Center of Surgery named after AN Syzganov (2009-2020). Total number of patients was 10 with 11 neck mass, of which 7 (70%) were women, the average age was 47 (31-73) years, one case we faced with a bilateral location. The main complaint was slow-growing neck mass. On computed tomography angiography most of cases (70%) were of the 3th type according to the Shamblin grade with average size of 5.9 (4-8) cm. The main treatment was surgical excision in all cases. Mean duration of surgery 111.5 (75-190) min and hospital stay days 12.1(8-20) were registered. Total number of complications were 2 (20%), where in 1 case surgery complicated by bleeding more than 500 ml, and 1 patient presented dysphonia after the surgery, which resolved by time. Duration of surgery and hospital stay days were directly associated with size of mass and distance to base of skull. Pathology results showed that two patients (20%) had malignant cells, one of them with metastases to the nearest lymph nodes. Surgical resection is the treatment of choice for carotid body tumors. The large size of the masses and involvement of the carotid arteries and cranial nerves in the process directly affect the surgical approach and increase the risk of complications.