BACKGROUND Carotid body tumors are rare tumors that arise from the paraganglionic cells of the carotid body. They are usually benign, requiring surgical resection as the treatment of choice. CASE REPORT We present a case of a 59-year-old man with a benign left carotid body tumor that progressed to a very large size, compromised the patient's airway, completely encased the carotid vessels, vagus...

Between 1972 and 2012, 25 patients presenting 32 paragangliomas of the neck were observed. Tumor locations included the carotid body (CBTs) in 21 patients and the vagus nerve in 4. Four patients had bilateral CBT and one a bilateral vagal tumor; a metachronous bilateral jugulare paraganglioma was diagnosed in one patient with bilateral CBT Shamblin type III. Five patients presented CBTs type II...

61 Abstract. – Cervical paragangliomas are uncommon benign or malignant neoplasms, originated by stem cells of neural crest. It is not easy nowadays to define properly their biological behaviour, the possible multiple location and the association with Multiple Endocrine Neoplasms. After a wide review about recent diagnostic, pathological and clinical acquisition, authors report their caseload o...

Tumours of the chemoreceptor organs of the neck, the carotid bodies, and the glomera jugulare are well-known lesions presenting as swellings in relation to the bifurcation of the carotid artery; by 1959 over 500 such tumours had been described in the world literature (Sessions, McSwain, Carl-son, and Scott, 1959). Similar tumours have, from time to time, been described in other parts of the bod...

Since the publication of the classical studies of Heymans et al (1930) it has been accepted that the carotid body is a chemoreceptor which monitors the oxygen tension of systemic arterial blood, and it has been extensively investigated by physiologists (Biscoe, 1971). Because chronic hypoxia is a major hazard of life at high altitude and of cardiorespiratory disease at sea level, it might be th...

The carotid body is a small structure weighing 12 mg located in the adventitia of carotid artery bifurcation acting as a chemoreceptor. Carotid body tumour (CBT); formerly known as chemodectoma is a rare, highly vascular, mostly benign tumour arising from the paraganglia of carotid body; hence, the name (carotid paraganglioma). The high vascularity and proximity to cranial nerves and major vess...

An electron microscope investigation was made of the carotid body in the cat and the rabbit. In thin-walled blood vessels the endothelium was fenestrated. Larger vessels were surrounded by a layer of smooth muscle fibers. Among the numerous blood vessels lay groups of cells of two types covered by basement membranes. Aggregates of Type I cells were invested by Type II cells, though occasionally...

Response to Role of the Carotid Body in Obesity-Related Sympathoactivation We thank Prof Andrea Porzionato1 for her comment and support of our review2 that raises the issue of the role of the carotid body in obesity-related sympathoactivation. In our review,2 we summarized the intriguing association of raised peripheral chemosensitivity in several disease states, including hypertension, heart f...

BACKGROUND Propofol decreases the acute hypoxic ventilatory response in humans and depresses in vivo carotid body chemosensitivity. The mechanisms behind this impaired oxygen sensing and signaling are not understood. Cholinergic transmission is involved in oxygen signaling, and because general anesthetics such as propofol have affinity to neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, the authors ...