A unilateral carotid body tumor: A report of two cases

Carotid body tumors usually occur as painless mass in the neck and are quite vascular and slow-growing tumors. Diagnosis is based on Doppler ultrasound, computed tomography, magnetic resonance and angiography. Treatment is surgical resection. Cranial nerve damage, vascular injury and bleeding are the most common surgical complications. Selective tumor embolization can be performed preoperatively to reduce tumor vascularity and blood loss during resection. Herein, we report two adult cases presenting with unilateral asymptomatic masses in the neck who were diagnosed with a carotid body tumor and were treated surgically following selective embolization.