CAROTID BODY TUMOR - A CASE REPORT

Carotid body tumors are of rare incidence. Surgical resection is the preferred treatmentwhich is notoriously difficult because of anatomic distortion, high vascularity, and intimate adherence to the carotid arteries and cranial nerves. In our institution we operated 59 year old male with not tender, firm, pulsatile swelling of size 6 x 5 cm in the upper part of right side of neck. A 64 slice MD CT cerebral angiogram was done to confirm the diagnosis as CBT. Successful complete resection of tumor without carotid artery injury was possible and there was no cranial nerve palsy postoperatively. A recent review of the literature describes mortality rates between 0 and 3, stroke rates between 0 and 8, and cranial nerve palsy in less than 1 to 49 of patients.