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Femoral catheterization before carotid tumor removed?

Posted by gangcarotid1 @gangcarotid1, Mar 14 5:16pm

Has anyone had the tumor on their carotid (neck) artery surgically removed, and did they do a femoral catheter prior, to control bleeding? If so, how did that go? Were you under general anesthesia for the embolization? and then spend the night in the hospital before tumor removal the next day? Very scared; trying to talk myself down off the cliff before developing the tumor removal Plan end of next month at Mayo Rochester.

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fas | @fas | Mar 18 6:11pm

Hi, I have a Paraganglioma on the carotid artery (left side). Specifically it is 3cm and is at the bifurcation of the artery. I have visited and spoken to surgeons at Swedish (Seattle), Fred Hutch (Seattle) and Mayo (Arizona). Of those three doctors 1 wanted to embolize the day before (Swedish) and the other 2 told me that they would not embolize. I spent some time researching this myself and found two medical papers detailing studies on whether or not embolization was advantageous. In both studies the conclusion was that the results of the removal of the tumor were not affected by having or not having an embolization.
I felt that the surgeon at Swedish was a little too casual in his attitude towards my surgery and seemed to treat it as 'routine' telling me he always embolizes the day before. The surgeon at Fred Hutch was very efficient and professional but a little too clinical for me, although her treatment plan was the same as the final doctor I met at Mayo - I really liked him. Very experienced and very willing to take the time to explain everything. When I asked him about embolization his response was 'there is a 3 percent risk of stroke with embolization and I don't consider that it is a risk worth taking'.
So, this is my experience to date and I hope you might find it helpful.
FYI I will be having this removed by the surgeon at Mayo as soon as I get my date, hopefully 4 - 5weeks time.

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gangcarotid1 | @gangcarotid1 | Mar 18 7:00pm

Wow! So much in the same boat as me! Going back to Mayo Rochester end of April to line up the surgical plan. The did tell me there would be an embolization to be able to route the blood elsewhere during the surgery. My triage team there is an endocrinologist, ENT, and vascular neurosurgeon. My tumor is 1.5 cm & at the bifurcation of the carotid arteries on the right side. I was told about all the risks and like your Mayo Dr, mine took all the time I needed to answer all my questions and thoroughly explain everything. They discussed Watchful Waiting; the neurosurgeon and ENT both said I was a very healthy 68 yr old, and the tumor isn't gonna get smaller and I'm not gonna get younger, and that if I was their daughter or sister, they would remove it.
THANKNYOU for responding! Please, keep me posted on your journey, and I'll do the same!

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Mentor
Teresa, Volunteer Mentor | @hopeful33250 | Mar 19 7:37pm
In reply to @fas "Hi, I have a Paraganglioma on the carotid artery (left side). Specifically it is 3cm and..." + (show)
@fas

Hi, I have a Paraganglioma on the carotid artery (left side). Specifically it is 3cm and is at the bifurcation of the artery. I have visited and spoken to surgeons at Swedish (Seattle), Fred Hutch (Seattle) and Mayo (Arizona). Of those three doctors 1 wanted to embolize the day before (Swedish) and the other 2 told me that they would not embolize. I spent some time researching this myself and found two medical papers detailing studies on whether or not embolization was advantageous. In both studies the conclusion was that the results of the removal of the tumor were not affected by having or not having an embolization.
I felt that the surgeon at Swedish was a little too casual in his attitude towards my surgery and seemed to treat it as 'routine' telling me he always embolizes the day before. The surgeon at Fred Hutch was very efficient and professional but a little too clinical for me, although her treatment plan was the same as the final doctor I met at Mayo - I really liked him. Very experienced and very willing to take the time to explain everything. When I asked him about embolization his response was 'there is a 3 percent risk of stroke with embolization and I don't consider that it is a risk worth taking'.
So, this is my experience to date and I hope you might find it helpful.
FYI I will be having this removed by the surgeon at Mayo as soon as I get my date, hopefully 4 - 5weeks time.

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Hello @fas,

It looks like you have a good medical team in place at Mayo. As @gangcarotid1 said, I would also be interested in hearing from you again as you prepare for this surgery.

Will you continue to post?

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