A rare tumor on the carotid artery of a 55-year-old Lviv woman, a kindergarten teacher, was discovered by specialists of the St. Panteleimon Hospital of the First Medical Association of Lviv. They successfully removed the dangerous tumor.
Sometime in April, a woman noticed a swelling on her neck. At first, I thought it was inflammation of the lymph nodes, so I did not go to the doctor, thinking that it would pass. But over time, the swelling increased, and when swallowing, unbearable pain appeared. It was no longer possible to ignore the ailment, and the teacher went to see a therapist. He referred the patient to maxillofacial surgeons at the Saint Panteleimon Hospital.
“Our specialists performed ultrasound diagnostics and computer tomography and found a chemodectoma in the patient. This is a tumor of the carotid artery, which grows from the carotid sinus in the neck and is, for the most part, benign. The neoplasm is rare, occurs in 1-2 people out of 100,000 and is extremely dangerous, given its location. The tumor can rupture and kill the person.
At the time of application, our patient’s chemodectoma was already quite large – 4 by 5 cm, so it could lead to the woman’s death at any moment. The only way to save her is to remove the neoplasm as soon as possible,” said the hospital of Saint Panteleimon.
Interventions were performed by maxillofacial surgeons. They removed the tumor from the lateral surface of the neck. The operation was difficult, because the chemodectoma was very close to the blood vessels and, in case of their damage, massive bleeding could occur.
Despite the complexity and great risks, the intervention was successful. Already on the third day after the operation, the patient was discharged from the hospital. And the results of the examination of the tumor showed that it was benign. Now the woman is awaiting rehabilitation and observation by a doctor to avoid relapse.
Doctors emphasize that timely diagnosis saves lives. Therefore, do not ignore the symptoms of the disease and seek help from doctors at the first manifestations of any ailment.