Excision of rare carotid body tumour without preembolisation: Case report and literature review

Introduction: Carotid body tumors also known as parganglioma or chemodactomas are one of the rare tumors of head and neck which present as slow growing masses in the neck region. We present a case of 40 years female with painless slow growing mass over left side of her neck for 6 months. Diagnosis was made on basis of clinical history, examination and radiological findings. Tumor was graded as Shamblin grade II. She was managed with excision of the tumor without preoperative embolisation. Intraoperative and postoperative periods were uneventful. Case presentation: A forty years female presented with left sided painless neck swelling∼5 × 4 cm(2) over left anterior triangle for 6 months with no history of dysphagia, odynophagia, change in voice, shortness of breath, palpitations, tremors or syncopal attacks. She underwent USG neck and CT angiogram. Based upon the radiological and clinical findings, she was diagnosed asCarotid body tumor. She was managed with excision of the tumor without preembolisation. Her diagnosis was confirmed with histopathology. Conclusion: Carotid body tumours are rare entities of head and neck region. They are mostly benign in nature. Though mostly bening, increasing size might result in grave complications. Thus, the recommended treatment for carotid body tumors is early excision with or without pre-embolisation. In our case preembolisation was not performed. Though some studies have suggested the use of preoperative embolisation in large sized tumors, more studies are yet required to justify the choice of preembolisation despite the dreaded complications.