Carotid body tumours.

Twenty-one patients with 22 carotid body tumours have been managed between 1963 and 1982. All presented with a neck mass and, if the tumour was extensive, pain. The diagnosis was made clinically, by ultrasound (2) and by angiography (16) and confirmed by biopsy in 19 patients. Eighteen resections were performed, without mortality but with a stroke rate of 16% and an overall complication rate of 36%. Four patients required reconstruction of the internal carotid artery.