A rare benign tumor of the head and neck: Chemodectoma

Abstract

Carotid body tumor, also known as chemodectoma, is a rare tumor that arises from the neuroendocrine tissue of carotid body. It originates from the neural crest. The majority of these tumors are benign but they may also be clinically malignant. Surgical resection of carotid body tumor is the only curative treatment and it should be considered as the first treatment option. In this article, we present the diagnosis, treatment and follow-up stages of the patient, who had undergone surgical excision due to carotid tumor chemodectoma and could not be devascularized after the preoperative polyvinyl alcohol embolization, and review current literature.