Therapeutic role of selective preoperative embolization in patients with paraganglomas of head and neck

Abstract

Background/Aim. are rare hypervascular neoplasms. The aim of this study was to present experience in treatment of paragangliomas with preoperative embolization. Methods. This is a retrospective cross-sectional study of 10 patients (7 women and 3 men; median age 55 years) with paragangliomas who were embolized before surgery. Results. Three had tympanicum paragangliomas, two carotid body, three jugulare and two jugulare-tympanicum paragangliomas.During the operation, 9 out of 10 patients didn't have bleeding which would require blood transfusion. One patient received 1130 ml of blood transfusion due to surgical complication. Conclusion.Adequate preoperative selective embolization of paragangliomas is essential in the preoperative preparation of these patients, because this strategy is feasible with low complications rates.