Diagnosis and outcomes of surgical treatment of carotid bifurcation tumors

OBJECTIVE: To retrospectively review our experience with the diagnosis and treatment of carotid bifurcation tumors (CBFT). METHODS: This was a retrospective study of 60 patients with CBFT who underwent surgical and conservative treatment. The patients’ clinicopathological features, imaging examination findings, treatment strategy, and prognosis were analyzed. The surgical grade, blood loss, tumor size, operative time, and postoperative complications were analyzed by Spearman’s correlation. RESULTS: Resection was performed in 52 patients with 53 tumors. The mean tumor volume, operative time, estimated blood loss, and follow-up time was 47.62 ± 65.28 cm(3), 176.1 ± 86.55 minutes, 231.3 ± 354.0 mL, and 44.42 ± 29.30 months, respectively. Pathological examination showed that the number of carotid body tumors (CBT; paraganglioma), neurilemmoma, mesenchymal tissue tumor, and angioleiomyoma was 42, 8, 1, and 1, respectively. Of the CBT group, the rate of Shamblin Type I, II, and III was 11.9%, 59.5%, and 28.6%, and three cases were malignant CBT with lymph node metastasis. Spearman’s correlation analysis showed that complication grade was significantly related to surgical difficulty grade and operative time. CONCLUSION: CBT is the most frequent lesion in CBFT, and CBT may be treated safely by surgical management. The severity of surgical complications is significantly correlated with surgical difficulty.