Diagnosis and management of carotid body tumor: a report of seven cases

Paragangliomas are rare asymptomatic painless tumors, originating from paraganglionic bodies of autonomous nerve system of the embriological neural crest and increasing gradually. Despite their gradual developing nature, it is critical to reach early diagnosis and tailor surgical plan for carotid body tumors due to their potential of being malignant and local aggressive development, as well as invasion or pressure on the adjacent vascular and neural tissues. In this article, we present seven cases who were admitted with the complaints of pain and swelling in the neck and were diagnosed with carotid body tumor based on the further investigations and were surgically treated in the light of literature review and different surgical modalities were discussed