A new potential risk factor for permanent cranial nerve injury following carotid body tumor resection.

BACKGROUND

To quantify the association between the free distal segment length of the internal carotid artery (FDS-ICA) and permanent cranial nerve injury (p-CNI) following carotid body tumor (CBT) resection.

METHODS

This study is a case-control study. We surveyed 109 consecutive patients who underwent CBT resection between June 2015 and June 2020 at our single center. A total of 89 patients met the inclusion criteria and were selected for analysis. The FDS-ICA was measured by image post-processing software for computed tomography angiography (CTA). Postoperative p-CNI complications were evaluated using comprehensive statistical approaches.

RESULTS

The cohort was divided into 2 groups depending on the presence of p-CNI, namely the p-CNI group (n=17) and the non-CNI group (n=79). The average FDS-ICA of patients with p-CNI complications was shorter than that of those without p-CNI complications (P<0.001). For every 1 mm increase in FDS-ICA, there was an associated decrease of 8% in the risk of p-CNI (0.92, 95% CI: 0.85 to 0.98, P<0.05). Threshold effect analysis of the FDS-ICA on p-CNI identified that the FDS-ICA was 28.7 (95% CI: 23.8 to 30.9) mm.

CONCLUSIONS

The results of this study revealed a significant independent association between FDS-ICA and permanent postoperative cranial nerve injury complications of CBTs. Further study is warranted to confirm these results in a larger patient cohort.