Premium
CAROTID BODY TUMOURS: A STUDY OF THREE CASES INCLUDING A BILATERAL EXAMPLE
Author(s) -
Birrell J. H. W.
Publication year - 1952
Publication title -
australian and new zealand journal of surgery
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.111
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1445-2197
pISSN - 0004-8682
DOI - 10.1111/j.1445-2197.1952.tb05493.x
Subject(s) - medicine , carotid body , angiography , paraganglioma , surgery , radiology , carotid arteries
Summary three patients who had carotid body tumours subjected to surgery are described, including a patient with bilateral tumours. in no case were any carotid vessels ligated, yet death occurred in a patient who had a unilateral tumour removed. post‐operative investigations, performed on the patient who had had bilateral tumours, involving a variation in the percentage of oxygen in the inspired air, provide suggestive evidence in favour of the hypothesis that anoxaemia with a subnormal okygen tension is the stimulus to the carotid bodies. the histology of the tumours is examined and similarities to the glomus tumour noted. their general structure indicates that they are hyperplasias; the tumour is extensively, if irregularly, innervated and many club‐shaped nerve endings can be demonstrated. the “tumour” is therefore probably a functioning tissue. diagnosis and treatment are briefly discussed, early surgery being the treatment of choice, whilst angiography may help in diagnosis. the literature of bilateral carotid bodies is briefly reviewed. the percentage of malignant carotid body tumours is considered to be negligible.