Breathing is a complex function that is dynamic, responsive, automatic and often unstable during early development. The carotid body senses dynamic changes in arterial oxygen and carbon dioxide tension and reflexly alters ventilation and plays an essential role in terminating apnea. The carotid body contributes 10-40% to baseline ventilation in newborns and has the greatest influence on breathi...

Carotid body tumors typically arise at the level of the common carotid bifurcation where the carotid body exists. Superior and inferior extension beyond the carotid body may occur as well, especially if the tumor is long-standing. We herein describe a case of carotid body tumor in a patient who presented with a right-sided neck mass for 30 years. Computed tomography angiography (CTA) and B-mode...

This case report illustrates two unusual cases of parapharyngeal schwannomas mimicking carotid body tumors in terms of characteristic vascular displacement. Carotid body tumors classically cause splaying of internal and external carotid arteries demonstrating the Lyre sign on imaging. Also interestingly, both of these cases were seen in younger ages and include cervical sympathetic chain schwan...

The carotid body (CB) is a neural crest-derived organ whose major function is to sense changes in arterial oxygen tension to elicit hyperventilation in hypoxia. The CB is composed of clusters of neuron-like glomus, or type-I, cells enveloped by glia-like sustentacular, or type-II, cells. Responsiveness of CB to acute hypoxia relies on the inhibition of O(2)-sensitive K(+) channels in glomus cel...

CASE PRESENTATION A 38-year-old woman initially presented with a 3-week history of decreased hearing in the left ear. Evaluationrevealedaleftserousotitismedia,withno evidenceofanasopharyngealmass.Shewastreated forallergicrhinitis,withsubsequentresolutionofher serous effusion. During the third trimester of her subsequent pregnancy, she noted a progressive globussensationandleft-sidedintermittent...

Extra-adrenal paragangliomas are neoplasms of the paraganglia located within the paravertebral sympathetic and parasympathetic chains. Thus paragangliomas may arise anywhere along these tracts and common sites of occurrence include abdomen, retroperitoneum, chest and mediastinum and various head and neck locations such as jugulotympanic membrane, orbit, nasopharynx, larynx, vagal body and carot...

A 33-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital with a slow-growing mass in the left side of her neck. The mass was found to be a huge (73 × 56 × 54 mm) carotid body paraganglioma. Another 21 mm-size tumor was incidentally detected at the right carotid bifurcation. She had hoarseness and Horner's syndrome of her left side. Both tumors were surgically removed. There were no cerebrovascular comp...

Carotid body tumours are benign neoplasms. This case report describes two patients with this rare tumour with diagnostic workup and treatment options. The first case was a 36-year-old gentleman who presented with 6 months history of painless swelling on the left side of neck. The second patient was 60-years-old man who presented with slowly growing swelling on the right side of neck for the las...

E606 CMAJ, June 14, 2011, 183(9) © 2011 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors A42-year-old man presented with bilateral, nontender, nonmobile masses in his neck, which had been present for several months. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (Figure 1A) and magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) (Figure 1B) showed bilateral, intensely enhancing lesions that caused splaying of external and int...

Surgically excised human carotid bodies have been analyzed by electron microscopy. Several ultrastructural features suggest that they are closely related to sympathetic neuroendocrine glands and autonomic ganglia: the chief cells synthesize intensely osmiophilic cytoplasmic granules, occasionally develop neuroid processes, and are intimately associated with neurilemmal sustentacular cells. Othe...