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Paraganglioma / Carotid Body Tumor Question
Neuroendocrine Tumors (NETs) | Last Active: Jun 3, 2023 | Replies (107)Comment receiving replies
Thank you Sharik! Extremely dumb question. Have you heard of Shamblin grades? If tumor is wrapped 180 degrees or less around the artery it is grade 1, 180 - 270 degrees is grade 2, all around 360 is grade 3. More complicated is 3b.
If you had to go back to the scans and see, what grade were you? What makes it go from Carotid to Vagal? Would it have to be grade 1 or less on the artery and wrapped/entangled around the vegas nerve? From my scans I am at about Grade 2, but both nerves #9 and #10 are covered by the growth (my kids and I are calling it Buk-Buk from the Super Rich Asians movie).
Super glad you are well.
Also, endocrinology surgeons have the best sense of humor. Guy at MD Anderson told me that side effects of the surgery are very minor. If they can close the carotid artery in time, one may loose their voice, ability to swallow and end up with a feeding tube, or not able to breathe and need a tracheal tube. Nothing serious.
Replies to "Thank you Sharik! Extremely dumb question. Have you heard of Shamblin grades? If tumor is wrapped..."
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I don’t recall any kind of a grading system. The carotid artery is Y shaped and my scans showed that my tumor was sitting in the “V” of the Y. However, during surgery it was discovered that my carotid artery and vagus nerves were switched. The tumor had compressed the nerve so that it was splayed and had the Y shape on the scans. They had to leave me on the table and go talk to my husband. We had talked about the risks of the CBT but nothing about the vagus nerve such as possibly needing a feeding tube, losing my voice… As far as docs having a sense of humor: My husband was a mess and he asked the surgeons what they would do if it was their wife. My ENT said that he was recently divorced so probably not the one to ask ha ha! I am glad he chose removal. I would have been pretty mad if I had woke up and it was still in my neck. I have had a few challenges but pretty minor in the big scheme of things.