Paragangliomas are rare neuroendocrine neoplasms. The most common form of these tumors in head and neck are non-functional carotid body tumors. These neoplasms may present an extensive growth and compromise vital neurovascular structures in the neck, such as carotid vessels. Carotid body tumors usually present clinically as painless neck masses and occur most frequently in adults averaging 45 to 50 years, being the majority of these tumors unilateral and only 5% of all cases bilateral. The main treatment for carotid body paragangliomas is surgical resection, which can be extremely challenging due to tumor hypervascularity and significant blood loss.
We present a bilateral carotid body tumor case in a 61-year-old woman who presented due to a pulsatile and painless mass in the right carotid region of the neck of 1-year of evolution. The tumor was found encasing the external carotid artery and classified as Shamblin II. A novel approach for preoperative management was performed, placing a covered graft-stent in the right common and proximal (C1) internal carotid arteries in order to splint and provide structural protection for carotid vessels during surgical resection and temporarily reduce blood flow of the carotid body tumor.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.