title: Carotid body tumor: familial occurrence.
abstract: Four patients are presented with a carotid body tumor and three patients who may have had a carotid body tumor, all from one family of 81 members. This confirms the familial incidence of this tumor. A short review of the literature is presented. An autosomal dominant inheritance seems most likely in familial carotid body tumor. Screening family relatives of patients to diagnose a carotid body tumor at an early stage should make surgery easier and reduce the complication rate associated with surgery.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002345:Carotid Body Tumor / Q000235:genetics* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010375:Pedigree