Surgical resection of carotid body paragangliomas: 10 years of experience

Abstract

Background: Carotid body tumors (CBTs) are relatively rare neoplasms, and even if they are considered predominantly benign, there is an indication for early surgical removal. The objective of this study was to conduct a review of the surgical management of CBTs.

Methods: A retrospective study identified 34 cases (12 men and 19 women) of tumors in patients who had undergone surgical resection of pathologically confirmed CBTs over a period of 10 years from 2001 to 2011 in 2 academic departments of general surgery in Italy.

Results: In our series, 10 CBTs (31%) were Shamblin class I, 13 (41%) were class II, and 9 tumors (27%) were class III. Two patients (6%) had transient cerebral ischemia immediately after operation. One patient (3%) died of postoperative cerebral ischemia after surgery for internal carotid artery thrombosis.

Conclusions: The experience of this casuistry shows that the procedure is relatively low risk for Shamblin I and II classes, whereas there is an increasing risk of neurovascular complications for Shamblin III class.

Keywords: Carotid body tumor; Head and neck surgery; Paraganglioma.