Background: Paragangliomas of the carotid bifurcation are rare and usually benign neoplasms arising from the carotid body chemoreceptors. The aim of this retrospective study was to report long-term results of carotid bifurcation paragangliomas treated in a single institution over a period of 20 years. The following variables are described: age, sex, localization, diagnostic workup, operative procedure, complications, proportion and characteristics of malignant tumors, and cure rates.
Methods: Thirty-six patients,10 men and 26 women, were treated. Twenty-three patients had tumors on the right side, 10 patients had tumors on the left side, and three patients had bilateral tumors. All patients were symptomatic. The most common complaint was a neck mass that had been present for 1 to 144 months. All patients had diagnostic procedures done before treatment. The most widely used was ultrasonography (26 patients). Angiography was performed in 14 patients.
Results: All patients underwent complete tumor resection. In three cases, resection of the internal carotid was necessary. In all patients who underwent internal carotid resection, immediate reconstruction was performed. No patients had postoperative strokes. Five patients had postoperative nerve palsies. During the follow-up period of 4 months to 12 years, no patients had local recurrence develop. Four patients had distant metastasis.
Conclusion: The complete removal of paragangliomas of the carotid bifurcation is effective with acceptable morbidity. All recurrences of the malignant tumors were distant metastasis.