Protective Surgical Procedures for Carotid Body Tumors: A Case Series

Glomus tumors are benign tumors that originate from neural non-chromaffin cells. Its symptoms usually depend on the mass effect. The tumor can be treated with embolization, excision, and radiotherapy. The most important complications of surgery are hemiplegia and nerve injury at the surgical site. In this article, we report four cases of carotid body tumor. Four female patients presented with neck swelling and/or hypertension, and the diagnosis was made with the aid of ultrasonography, angiography, and computed tomography. These cases were classified as type 3 according to Shamblin's classification, and surgical resection was performed under local anesthesia without the need for graft interposition. These tumors were excised with the carotid artery adventitia. No complication associated with the surgery was observed in any patient.