[Carotid sinus hypersensitivity associated with a treated otorhinolaryngologic cancer. Study of 103 patients]

The incidence and characteristics of carotid sinus hypersensitivity were investigated in a homogeneous population of patients undergoing radiotherapy and surgery for ear, nose and throat (E.N.T.) cancers. Among the 103 patients who were thus treated but had none of the risk factors usually correlated with the disease investigated, 30 percent showed evidence of mainly vasodepressive (87 percent) carotid hypersensitivity when subjected to carotid sinus massage accompanied by electrocardiography and intra-arterial blood pressure measurement. The large number of positive responses, as well as the good reproductibility of this provocation test and its concordance with the site of local treatment suggest that surgery contributes to the genesis of the abnormality. Owing to the considerable variations in the type of response obtained, carotid sinus hypersensitivity should systematically and repeatedly be searched for in cases of syncope in patients treated for E.N.T. cancer.