[Irradiation of chemodectomas].

The rarely occurring, slowly growing glomus tumours of the inner ear, bulbus jugularis or carotis bifurcation, according to the site of the tumour, can be the cause of loss of hearing, tinnitus, vertigo, pain and cranial nerve destruction. As a result of radiotherapy, after having applied 45 Gy, the size of the tumour decreases only very slowly. Although radiotherapy yields very good results, chemodectomas are usually operated on. However, radiation can be applied as first choice of treatment because of its simplicity and because it is well tolerated by the patient. If surgery is used as first choice the rate of recurrence is higher and one should therefore always consider the use of radiotherapy. Our own results with eight patients confirmed that glomus tumours respond well to radiation. This is generally also known from the literature on this subject.