Carotid body tumor pathophysiology

Pathophysiology
Bungeler (1952) suggested that this was some form of adaptive hyperplasia, which was produced by traumatic destruction of the cortical projection fields of the X nerve. In contrast to this hypothesis, is the realization that a significant number of these lesions undergo malignant transformation with metastasis, which establishes the carotid body tumor as a true neoplasm.

Study of the familial occurrence of chemodectomas has established a definite genetic influence in the development of these neoplasms. This hereditary factor is especially prominent in multicentric cases.

Saldana et al. (1973) found that chemodectomas were 10 times more frequent in high-altitude dwellers than in sea-level residents. They proposed that hypoxia, acting from birth, served as a stimulus for chemoreceptor tissue hyperplasia, which eventually led to tumor formation.