Background: Head and neck
paragangliomas are slowly growing benign
tumors and they originate from specialized neural crest cells. Aims/objectives: This study aimed to express the safety of
paraganglioma surgery regarding complications, treatment, and outcomes of patients with head and neck
glomus tumors. Materials and methods: Medical records of patients who were operated because of head and neck
paraganglioma between 2006 and 2016 were reviewed. Results: The study group consisted of 49 patients (M/F: 6/43). The patients were distributed as follows: 22 glomus caroticum (GC) (44.8%), 8 glomus jugulare (GJ) (16.3%), 10 glomus tympanicum (GT) (20.4%), 4 glomus vagale (GV) (8.1%), 2 GC + GV (4%), 2 bilateral GC (4%) and 1 thyroidal
glomus tumor (2%). All GC and GV
tumors were resected via cervical approach. Three of GJ
tumors were resected through transmastoid approach while five of them were resected through both transmastoid and cervical approach. Nine GT
tumors were resected via transmastoid approach. One patient received cyberknife. Thyroid
paraganglioma was diagnosed incidentally after total
thyroidectomy. Mean follow-up period was 61.92 ± 35.11 months (1-124 m). Conclusions and significance: The choice of treatment depends on the size, location and
biologic activity of
tumor as well as the physical condition of the patient. Our results show that
glomus tumors can be resected with low mortality and morbidity rates due to developing imaging and microsurgical methods.