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Late outcome after surgical management of carotid body tumors from a 20-year single-center experience

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Abstract

Background and aims

Surgical resection is the treatment of choice for carotid body tumors. The aim of this study was to assess not only the perioperative, but also the long-term outcome after surgical treatment.

Patients/methods

All patients that were operated on a carotid body tumor at our institution between 1986 and 2006 were reviewed. Data collection included patient profile, intraoperative findings and postoperative outcome.

Results

Seventeen patients (11 female, six male) with 17 carotid body tumors (12 right, five left sided) were identified. Mean patient age at treatment was 49 years (range 19 to 76 years). Eight patients (47.1%) had large Shamblin type III tumors. Complete tumor resection was achieved in 16 of 17 cases (94.1%). Malignacy could not be proven in any patient. The 30-day mortality and stroke rates were 0. The incidence of temporary and permanent cranial nerve deficit was 41.2% and 11.8%, respectively. Patients with type III tumors had significantly higher risk of neurologic complications than patients with smaller tumors (p = 0.0152). The median postoperative follow-up was 6.4 years (range 1.5 to 20 years). The overall survival rate was 82.4%; the disease-specific survival rate was 94.1% (16 of 17 patients). One patient (5.6%) died of local tumor recurrence 3 years after a R1 resection. All the other patients showed no signs of local recurrence or metastases.

Conclusions

The surgical therapy of carotid body tumors shows low long-term morbidity, mortality, and recurrence rates. Cranial nerve injury is mostly temporary but a relevant procedure-related complication. Surgical resection is indicated also for small, asympomatic tumors, because of the uncomplicated resectability of these tumors.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Mrs. S. Schwab for her assistance in data collection, Mr. D. Fischer for the drawings, and Mr. U. Hinz for his help with the statistical analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, University of Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 110, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany

    Drosos Kotelis, Philipp Geisbüsch, Nicolas Attigah, Jens-Rainer Allenberg & Dittmar Böckler

  2. Department of Neurology, University of Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 400, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany

    Timolaos Rizos, Peter Ringleb & Werner Hacke

Authors
  1. Drosos Kotelis
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  2. Timolaos Rizos
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  3. Philipp Geisbüsch
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Correspondence to Drosos Kotelis.

Additional information

Presented at the Annual Scientific Congress of the German, Swiss and Austrian Societies for Vascular Surgery, Basel Switzerland, September 2007.

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Kotelis, D., Rizos, T., Geisbüsch, P. et al. Late outcome after surgical management of carotid body tumors from a 20-year single-center experience. Langenbecks Arch Surg 394, 339–344 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00423-008-0378-3

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