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. 2021 Oct 15:2021:9499420.
doi: 10.1155/2021/9499420. eCollection 2021.

Size of the Carotid Body in Patients with Cardiovascular and Respiratory Diseases Measured by Computed Tomography Angiography: A Case-Control Study

Sándor Csizmadia  1 , Gergely H Fodor  2 , András Palkó  3 , Erika Vörös  3
Affiliations

Size of the Carotid Body in Patients with Cardiovascular and Respiratory Diseases Measured by Computed Tomography Angiography: A Case-Control Study

Sándor Csizmadia et al. Radiol Res Pract. .

Abstract

Objectives: Carotid bodies (CBs) play an important role in regulating sympathetic nervous system activity. Thus, they are likely to be enlarged in patients with certain cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. The aim of this case-control study was to verify this hypothesis using computed tomography angiography (CTA).

Methods: We retrospectively analysed 141 CTAs including 16 controls, 96 patients with only hypertension (HT), 12 with HT and previous acute myocardial infarction (AMI), 9 with HT and heart failure (HF), and 8 with HT and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We assessed the data using analysis of variance, with p < 0.05 indicating significance.

Results: CB average areas in the controls were 2.31 mm2 (right side (RS)) vs. 2.34 mm2 (left side (LS)). CB size was significantly enlarged in patients with HT: 3.07 mm2 (RS) (p=0.019) vs. 2.91 mm2 (LS) (p=0.002). If AMI (RS: 3.5 mm2; LS: 3.44 mm2) or HF (RS: 4.01 mm2; LS: 4.55 mm2) was associated with HT, the CB size was even more enlarged. COPD did not affect CB size (RS: 2.40 mm2; LS: 2.29 mm2).

Conclusions: Our data showed that certain diseases with increased activity of the sympathetic nervous system were associated with significantly enlarged CBs.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest. The authors of this article declare no relationships with any companies, whose products or services may be related to the subject matter of the article.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Images from a 53-year-old man in the control group (right: caudal image in which the small, avidly enhancing left carotid body (CB) (black arrow) is seen between the external carotid artery (smaller one on the ventral side) and the internal carotid artery (larger one on the dorsal side); left: a somewhat more cranial image in which the narrow branch of the external carotid artery (white arrows) is easily differentiated from the carotid body).
Figure 2
Figure 2
CTA shows moderately enlarged carotid bodies (arrow) on both sides in a 54-year-old woman who suffers from high blood pressure.
Figure 3
Figure 3
CTA axial slice from an 84-year-old man who had experienced a previous AMI and suffers from HT. The patient also had had a carotid stent implanted, but the enlarged CB (arrow) is still easily identified.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Our results and significant pairs ( ∗p < 0.05 and  ∗∗p < 0.01) for the right-side carotid bodies with the standard deviations. HT, hypertension; AMI, acute myocardial infarction; HF, heart failure; COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Significant differences ( ∗p < 0.05,  ∗∗p < 0.01, and  ∗∗∗p < 0.001) and the measured cross-sectional sizes of the left-side carotid bodies.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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