Paragangliomas of the Carotid Body: Current Management Protocols and Review of Literature

Paraganglioma is a rare neoplasm arising from carotid body usually benign and constitute 0.5 % of all total body tumors. They constitute 60–70 % of head and neck paraganglioma and resemble other paragangliomas of the body like glomus jugulare, glomus tympanicum, and pheochromocytoma. This is a retrospective analysis of the medical records of carotid body paraganglioma cases. Nine patients operated during the study period and the follow up traced were included in the study. Seven females and 2 males were analysed. Six had tumor on the left side and 3 had on the right side. All the cases surgical excision was done by a tranverse incision as 2 patients had Shamblin I, 5 patients had Shamblin II, and 1 patients Shamblin IIIa. All the Shamblin I had tumor away from the carotids and were easily dissected without vessel damage, a sub adventitial tumor excision was performed in all the 5 cases of Shamblin II, 1 case of Shamblin IIIa was dissected with difficulty without sacrificing or vessel reconstruction. Paraganglioma of the carotid body should be considered as a differential diagnosis for painless lateral neck masses. Larger tumors need a multidisciplinary team of head and neck with vascular surgeons for better results.