부산대학교 도서관

Introduction: Carotid body paragangliomas are rare hypervascular lesions arising from neural crest paraganglia cells, with a tendency of slow, but progressive growth, giving rise to external compression, or/and involvement of the carotid arteries, craniofacial nerves and other neighbouring structures. Patients and methods: We analysed demographics, mode of presentation, imaging features, Shamblin classification, treatment modalities, and neurological complications (stroke, cranial nerve injuries), of carotid body paragangliomas, in order to find specific signs and to elaborate a strategy for diagnosis and treatment. Results: One patient had two localisations (the second was a glomus tumor of the left prelacrimal sac) and another one had a family history for carotid body tumor. All lesions were paragangliomas of the carotid bifurcation, represented by painless lateral neck mass. There was no evidence of functional tumor. The tumors were confirmed during ultrasonography (4 patients), MRI with MRA (4 patients) and DSA (2 patients). No preoperative embolisation was performed in our patients before complete resection of paragangliomas. Postoperatively, 2 patients had a transient twelve cranial nerve deficit. No stroke occured. Conclusions: Early diagnosis of carotid body paragangliomas is possible now with color Doppler sonography and MRI+MRA. Early surgery for paragangliomas minimized the risk of complications associated with large tumours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]