Background:

Carotid glomus is a highly vascular and rare neoplasm in childhood, originated in the neural crest, and it forms slowly on the adventitial carotid bifurcation and associated with familial genetic mutations but not with malignancy or metastasis. Surgical resection remains as the treatment of choice, with or without preoperative embolization.

Objective:

To present a case of carotid body tumor, Shamblin III, in a pediatric patient treated at a hospital in Puebla.

Material and methods:

A 17-year-old female adolescent patient with left carotid glomus, asymptomatic, with six years of evolution; underwent pre-surgical embolization and subsequent bloc resection due to invasion of both carotid arteries causing incidental injury without the possibility of graft placement. Both carotid arteries were ligated without data of ischemia, with adequate evolution and minimal cognitive-neurological repercussions

Conclusion:

In pediatric patients, carotid body tumors are rare. An adequate diagnostic approach allows early staging and individualized surgical planning.