CLINICAL CASES   

Chirurgia 2009 October;22(5):225-9

Copyright © 2009 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Carotid body paragaglioma: a case report and review of the literature

Staramos D. N., Masgala A. K., Antoniadis P. N., Geropapas G. I., Kalamaras A. G., Giannakou N., Dervisis K. I.

¹ Department of Vascular Surgery, Konstantopoulio General Hospital, Athens, Greece 2 Department of Internal Medicine, Konstantopoulio General Hospital, Athens, Greece 3 Department of Pathology, Konstantopoulio General Hospital, Athens, Greece

Carotid body paragagliomas are rare tumors and usually have benign behavior. They typically present as a slow growing painless neck mass at the anterior border of the sternocleidomastoid muscle. The complete surgical removal is the main stay of treatment. The close vicinity to the carotid artery bifurcation and the proximity to the cranial nerves consist a challenge for the vascular surgeon. We report a case of a patient with carotid body paragaglioma and review of the recent literature on this unusual entity.