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Carotid body paraganglioma is uncommon, with appoximately 900 reports of it in the world literature, and with only 7 documented cases in the Korean literature. The classic carotid body paraganglioma develops in the bifurcation of common carotid artery and involves both the internal and external carotid arteries at it expands. The diagnosis may almost always be established preoperatively by selective angiography which shows a widening of the carotid bifurcation with a well defined vascular mass. Differential consideration of a single, lateral cervical mass in this location include branchial cleft cyst, neurogenic tumor, metastatic thyroid cancer, carotid body aneurysm and salivary gland tumor. Surgical therapy is the preferred method of treatment as these tumors are regarded as radioresistant. Because of their high vascularity and anatomical location, surgical removal of these tumors reguires a considerable degree of caution and a high degree of surgical expertise. With improved diagnostic and surgical technique, the morbidity and mortality has been reduced lately. This report details the management of 3 patients with carotid body paraganglioma who underwent safe resection by subadventitial dissection or using an internal vascular shunt.
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