carotid body tumors our experience with 20 patients

in this report of 20 patients with 24 carotid body tumors which is the largest series reported so far from iran, we have evaluated the various characteristics of this relatively rare tumor in our population and compared our results with that of the literature. although the prevalence of the tumor is cited to be equal among both sexes, we found a female to male ratio of 2.3 to i, as 14 of our patients were female and 6 were male. the tumor was as equally frequent on the right as it was on the left, and was bilateral in four cases. the average tumor size was 5.3 cm in diameter and was found to be malignant in four cases. the results we obtained following the careful surgical technique which is described in detail compares quite favorably with that in the literature: 3 cases of cranial nerve injury (12.5%) compared to an average of 45% nerve injury in the reports, and no perioperative death versus 2% perioperative mortality in the literature. also we had no instances of stroke, transient ischemia, horner's syndrome, or other complications. we propose the surgical technique detailed by the author as the method of choice for treatment of carotid body tumors in iranian patients.