Images in Clinical Medicine

Carotid-Body Tumor

Vladimir Velebit, M.D., and Pierre-Alain Schneider, M.D.

N Engl J Med 2001; 345:587August 23, 2001

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Figure 1 A 70-year-old man underwent computed tomography (CT) of the chest for follow-up of oat-cell carcinoma that had been treated four years earlier. He was asymptomatic, and no mass was palpated in the neck. The CT extended to the neck (Panel A) and showed a hypervascular mass (white arrows) between the right internal carotid artery (long black arrow) and external carotid artery (short black arrow). No other anomalies were found. A carotid arteriogram was obtained and confirmed the diagnosis of a carotid-body tumor (arrow in Panel B). At surgery, dilatation of adventitial vessels was found and a small tumor (arrows in Panel C) was removed in the subadventitial plane, with no complications. IC denotes internal carotid artery, and CC common carotid artery. Histologic analysis showed findings typical of a carotid-body tumor with no signs of malignancy.

Vladimir Velebit, M.D.
Pierre-Alain Schneider, M.D.
Hôpital de la Tour, Geneva, Switzerland