Excision of Carotid Body
Excision of Carotid Body is a type of surgery done to remove the carotid bodies which are small sensory organs located near the carotid sinus at the bifurcation of the common carotid artery situated at the base of the skull.
Some facts about Excision of Carotid Body:
- A carotid body tumor, also called as a paraganglioma is a growth on the side of your neck where the carotid artery splits off into smaller blood vessels.
- Carotid body tumors are generally not life-threatening, but they can grow overtime and press on nearby nerves and blood vessels.
- Usually, a carotid body tumor is slow growing and asymptomatic.
- This type of tumor may be felt as a painless mass on the side of your neck.
- Excision of Carotid Body is done to remove the tumor and repair any damage to the carotid artery.
- Embolization may sometimes be performed before the surgery.
- Difficulty swallowing, Hoarseness, High blood pressure, Numbness in the tongue and Palpitations or sensations of a racing heart or fluttering in your chest are some of the symptoms of a carotid body tumor.
- A Angiogram (Angiography) or Carotid duplex ultrasound can be performed to diagnose a carotid body tumor.
Procedure for Excision of Carotid Body:
- Surgery may be recommended to remove the tumor depending on the size of the tumor and your age and health.
- The procedure should be performed by only highly skilled neurosurgeons with expertise in this surgery as the surgery not only involves the area near the critical carotid artery that supplies blood to the brain but also very close to the vagus nerve. It also involves the facial nerve and the hypoglossal nerve, which controls the tongue.
- Transcatheter embolization is usually done a few days prior to the Excision of Carotid Body.
- A dye will be injected into a patient by a neurosurgeon or interventional neuroradiologist to help identify the affected blood vessels.
- Then an embolization will be performed to cut off the blood supply to the tumor.
- A type of glue or special particles are used to stop the blood flow.
- The Excision of Carotid Body takes place after the embolization.
- An incision in the neck will be made by the neurosurgeon and this open surgical procedure will be performed to remove the tumor
- A temporary shunt may be required to carry blood through the carotid artery during the surgery. However, this is very rare.
- The carotid artery may need to be repaired after the resection depending on the size and location of the tumor.
- A hole may be created in the carotid artery by removing the tumor which needs to be patched or the damaged section needs to be completely removed.
- A bypass graft may be done to replace the damaged section in certain cases.
- Radiotherapy can be an option of treatment for carotid body tumors which is generally reserved for the elderly, patients who are poor surgical candidates, and selected individuals with multiple paragangliomas in whom resection may be highly morbid.
- However, Radiotherapy is considered as not so effective as these tumors are not radiosensitive and can regrow after suppression.
- Also, the tumors that are treated primarily with radiation becomes difficult to resect afterwards because of radiation-induced fibrosis.
- You can only slow or halt progression of growth in tumor by using radiation for their carotid body tumors (CBTs).
