Diagnosis, treatment and operative complications of carotid body tumours

A series of 42 patients who were treated in the Surgical Clinic of the University of Leyden on suspicion of a carotid body tumour between 1958 and 1979 is reported. Thirty-four patients in this series were operated upon in the University Hospital Leyden. Only 6 per cent of the tumours were malignant according to the criteria of nuclear polymorphia and metastases. Local infiltration, either histological or clinical, has no correlation with later outcome. In 11 per cent of the patients, vascular complications occurred. The necessity of operative damage to the surrounding cranial nerves increased with the size of the tumour. In one case the cranial nerve lesion was accidental. No per- or postoperative mortality was seen in this series.