Carotid body tumors: advantages of contrast ultrasound investigation.

Carotid body tumors are rare neoplasms that have to be considered in the evaluation of all lateral neck mass. Early surgical removal has been recommended to avoid possible cranial nerve injury, the most common perioperative complication. Computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRA) angiographies are the preferred pre-operative diagnostic imaging investigations, as well as the 111 In-pentetreotide scintigraphic scan, whereas the standard ultrasound investigations have poor sensitivity in characterizing of the blood flows of the parenchimal structure of the carotid body tumors. We describe a case of a patient with a carotid body tumor assessed with contrast ultrasonography that clearly improved the quality of the standard color Duplex. This technique may represent a non-invasive method, easy to use and to repeat, and able to achieve high diagnostic accuracy.