Abstract
Carotid body tumor(CBT)is a paraganglioma arising in a carotid body, which is located at the bifurcation of the common carotid artery and works as a chemoreceptor. CBTs easily infiltrate neighboring blood vessels and nerves, leading to Horner's syndrome or lower cranial nerve symptoms such as aspiration, dysphagia or hoarseness. The choice for radical cure of CBT is a surgical extirpation, while surgery has the great risk of surgical complications such as bleeding or postoperative lower cranial nerve damage. We examined the clinical features and the oncological and functional outcomes of the treatment of CBT. We experienced 9 patients with 11 tumors at the department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Kobe University Hospital from 2001 to 2013. There were 6 women and 3 men with an average age of 44.6 years old (17 to 78). The mean follow-up period was 41 months(4 to 116 months). Bilateral CBTs were seen in 2 patients. Five were surgically resected, 2 were treated by irradiation and 2 were under clinical observation. One patient had a family history. One patient with malignant CBT died of distant metastases. The other 8 patients had favorable courses. A treatment plan should be determined with careful consideration of age, size, location, neurologic symptoms and family history.
