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Glomus carotideo complications - when the patient refuses treatment


International Journal of Family & Community Medicine
Darlene Adolfo, Pedro Vieira, Andreia Póvoa, Cristina Sequeira

Abstract

In 1941 Rufus Guild was the first using the term glomus jugular or jugular body tissue and demonstrated the 3 locations of it (half the time in the adventitia of the jugular bulb dome, and with the same frequency in the tympanic artery branch of the jugular glossopharyngeal nerve or the auricular branch of the vagus nerve). It was only much later that these tumors were reported to occur at any of these places. The carotid body tumor is also known as carotid glomus, paraganglioma or chemodectoma. Although many consider the tumor of the carotid body as a pheochromocytoma outside the adrenal gland, in 2004 the WHO classified it as a neuroendocrine tumor of extra-renal localization regardless of its secretory function. The paraganglioma is generally a benign tumor, but remains potentially locally aggressive with growth rates of 2 cm every 5 years, which may lead to symptoms by local compression. They are most commonly located in the carotid bifurcation, jugular foramen, along the vagus nerve and inside the middle ear. The tumor of the carotid body is the most common tumor of paraganglioms, with a local incidence approximately of 1: 1,700,000.1,2

Keywords

symptomatic glomus carotideo, refused treatment, pheochromocytoma, carotid body, tumor, carotid bifurcation, jugular foramen, adrenal gland, carotid glomus

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