TUMOR OF CAROTID BODY TYPE PRESUMABLY ARISING FROM THE GLOMUS JUGULARIS

Abstract

IN THE year 1743, von Haller first reported a gross description of a structure lying at the bifurcation of the carotid artery, which he termed the "ganglion minutum." The microscopic appearance of this organ was described by von Luschka in 1862. The first tumor of this body was surgically removed by Riegner in 1880 and described by Marchand in 1891. Since that time tumor of the carotid body has become a well known clinical entity, and over 250 cases have been reported in the literature to date. Guild,¹ in 1941, described a similar structure lying in the adventitia of the dome of the jugular bulb, immediately below the floor of the middle ear, which he called the "glomus jugularis." Guild² indicated that a glomus jugularis may be found at three sites, as shown in figure 1. Because of the size of the tumors in our two patients, it