Society For Clinical Vascular Surgery

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Carotid Body Tumors: A single-centre experience over 20 years from Pakistan
Fahad Rind, Umer H. Bhatti, MBBS, Nadeem A. Siddiqui, MBBS, Ziad Sophie, MBBS.
Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan.

OBJECTIVES: Carotid body tumors are a rare paraganglioma of the head and neck, with solitary case reports described in Pakistani literature. We review our institutional experience to evaluate demographics and outcomes following resection of carotid body tumors.
METHODS: Retrospective review of institutional records 1997-2017 of histologically-proven carotid body tumors for demographic, operative details, histopathologic and radiologic findings.
RESULTS: Between 1997-2017, 31 tumors in 29 patients were diagnosed, with 28 surgeries. Most patients were female (66%), presented in the 5th decade of life (mean 44 +/- 15 years), had a neck mass (97%) on clinical exam. CT was the most common imaging modality (55%) followed by MRI (31%). 27 patients (94%) underwent excision. 74% underwent preoperative angioembolization with 80-95% occlusion. Median operative time was 210 minutes (IQR 150-265 mins) and two-thirds of patients were Shamblin I/II. Increasing tumor size correlated with increasing operative times (R-squared 0.71). 1 stroke and 5 focal neurologic complaints were recorded post-operatively. Median length of stay was 5 days. Mean follow-up was 609 days with one ipsilateral recurrence and 1 contralateral tumor occurrence.
CONCLUSIONS: This is series adds to locoregional data. Use of preoperative angioembolization is greater than contemporary series, while operative outcomes compare favorably. We suggest screening of family members of patients with carotid body tumors.


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