Diagnostic and surgical treatment of carotid body tumor: a report of 21 cases / 中华全科医师杂志

ABSTRACT

The clinical data of 21 patients with carotid body tumor (CBT) were analyzed retrospectively.The lesions were unilateral (n =20) and bilateral (n =1).Among 20 surgical cases, the procedures included tumor resection alone (n =11) , tumor resection along with external carotid artery (n =6) and vascular reconstruction of carotid artery after resection of tumor body (n =3).No mortality occurred during perioperative period.CBT was confirmed by pathologic examination in all cases and 1 case was malignant.Follow-up period ranged from 3 months to 7 years and the follow-up rate was 85％.Five cases of cranial nerve impairment recovered completely over 3 months.One case of bilateral CBT underwent contralateral tumor resection at another hospital 1 year later and 1 case with malignant tumor died from metastases 3 years later.The remainder survived recurrence-free.CBT tends to be misdiagnosed.Therefore ultrasonography, digital subtraction angiography (DSA), CT angiography (CTA) or magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) are important for preoperative diagnosis and evaluation.Surgical resection is a first choice for CBT.