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

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 mm(2) (right side (RS)) vs. 2.34 mm(2) (left side (LS)). CB size was significantly enlarged in patients with HT: 3.07 mm(2) (RS) (p=0.019) vs. 2.91 mm(2) (LS) (p=0.002). If AMI (RS: 3.5 mm(2); LS: 3.44 mm(2)) or HF (RS: 4.01 mm(2); LS: 4.55 mm(2)) was associated with HT, the CB size was even more enlarged. COPD did not affect CB size (RS: 2.40 mm(2); LS: 2.29 mm(2)). CONCLUSIONS: Our data showed that certain diseases with increased activity of the sympathetic nervous system were associated with significantly enlarged CBs.