Radioimmunodetection of chemodectoma by In-111 labeled anti-CEA antibody. Case report and review of the literature.

The carotid body paraganglioma is a rare tumor that arises from the autonomic nervous chemoreceptor. It can be diagnosed by contrast angiography. A patient in whom a carotid body chemodectoma was imaged with In-111 labeled monoclonal anticarcinoembryonic antigen (anti-CEA) antibodies is described. There was marked accumulation of the antibody into the tumor but little blood pool activity at 25 hours. The removed tumor, which was examined immunohistochemically, was positive for vimentin, GFAP, NF 68, SYP, and S-100; and negative for CEA, desmin, and cytokeratin. The tumor was a paraganglioma that accumulated antibody with nonspecific mechanism of uptake.