Carotid body tumors: contribution of the various imaging techniques. A report of six cases

Introduction. Carotid body tumors are rare hypervascular lesions arising fr om neural crest paraganglion cells. Materials and Methods. We retrospectively analyzed the imaging features of six patients with carotid body tumors to precise their imaging characterist ics in order to find specific signs and elaborate a strategy for diagnosis. Results. imaging features detect the vascular nature of these tumors of the carotid space causing characteristic widening of the carotid bifurcation. Two patients had multiple (two or more) localizations and one had a family history of glomus tumor. Conclusion. MRI with MRA is considered as the gold standard imaging techniq ue for the evaluation of glomus tumors as it allows a multiplanar approach which is important in the preoperative study.