Objective:

To determine the association between the distance to the skull base (DSB) and the tumor volume (VT) with postoperative complications in carotid body tumor resection (CBT).

Material and methods:

A total of 149 patients undergoing CBT resection were included between January 2013 and March 2020. DSB and VT were measured in computed tomographic angiography and their relationship with postoperative complications was analyzed. The IBM SPSS V. 24 software was used to perform the statistical analysis. The association was determined using Spearman’s correlation and χ2. For the risk of complications, logistic regression was used.

Results:

One hundred and thirty nine women (93%) with a mean age of 56 years. Average tumor volume was 25.13 cm3 (SD, 23.79) and mean DSB was 3.57 cm (SD, 1.55). A total of 60 complications (40%) were identified. The mean operative bleeding was 922 cc (SD, 1392cc). Every 1cm decrease in DSB was associated with 1.67 times increased risk of any post-surgical complication (95% CI, 1.29-2.17; p, < 0.001) and 5.26 times increased risk for fatal outcome (95% CI, 1.09-25.64; p, 0.039).

Conclusion:

There is an association between DSB and VT with postoperative complications. We observed an increased incidence of complications due to a 1-cm decrease in DSB.