Carotid body tumor （CBT） is a rare malignant tumor with a rich vascular network in and around it. When planning tumor resection, it is important to know the location of the tumor and its feeding arteries and to control the blood loss during the surgery. In our hospital, we perform preoperative embolization just before the resection surgery for all patients with CBT.
From March 2013 to December 2018, 15 consecutive patients were referred to our hospital with 16 CBTs that were resected after preoperative embolization. There were 9 female and 6 male patients with the mean age of 46 years. One patient had a tumor classified as Shamblin type I, and 15 had type Ⅱ tumors, including one patient who had bilateral CBTs. The mean operative time and the mean amount of blood loss were 138 min and 29.3 mL, respectively. The blood loss in our surgery was reduced greatly compared with other previous reports. There were no complications after preoperative embolization. We believe that adequate preoperative embolization followed by resection surgery leads to minimum blood loss and a safe surgery.
We explain our methods of preoperative embolization and surgery.