Surgical Management of a Multicentric Head-and-Neck Glomus Tumor: A Rare Case of Right Glomus Jugulare with Bilateral Carotid Body Tumors

Glomus tumors, also known as paragangliomas or chemodectomas, are usually slow–growing, benign, highly vascular tumors of neuroendocrine origin. Glomus tumors (paragangliomas) represent 0.6% of neoplasms of the head and neck and 0.03% of all neoplasms. In head-and-neck region, these common paragangliomas originate from the jugular bulb, carotid body, and vagus nerve. The synchronous occurrence of carotid body and glomus jugulare tumors is infrequent. Multicentric paragangliomas are seen in 10% of sporadic patients and 30%–40% in familial forms. We report an extremely rare case of multicentric, nonfamilial, nonfunctional right glomus jugulare with bilateral carotid body tumors and the surgical management.