Inflammatory pseudotumor is an uncommon round and spindle cell proliferativ
e lesion of unknown etiology that occurs most commonly in the lung. But it
also occurs in diverse extrapulmonary locations such as the abdomen, retrop
eritoneum, pelvis, heart, head and neck, upper respiratory tract, trunk, bl
adder and extremities. The extrapulmonary inflammatory pseudotumor is often
larger, less well circumscribed and multinodular. Proximity of the tumor t
o vital structures or involvement of vital organs compromises the opportuni
ty for complete resection, thus higher recurrence rates are often reported
even after surgical treatment.
The authors report a case of inflammatory pseudotumor originating from the
common carotid artery in a 42-year-old female patient with a rapidly growin
g neck mass, treated by en-bloc resection of inflammatory pseudotumor and a
long segment of common carotid artery followed by PTFE graft interposition
. (C) 1999 The International Society for Cardiovascular Surgery. Published
by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.