A 57-year-old woman whose medical history included a history of paraganglioma of the carotid body in the patient's sister, who was treated with surgical resection of the lesion. She came to the department with an increase in cervical volume on the left side anterior to the sternocleidomastoid of 5 years' evolution, slow growth, firm to palpation, mobile in the anteroposterior direction, with recent odynophagia and dysphonia. Computed tomography with contrast medium showed a hyperdense, well-defined lobulated image measuring 29.7 × 33.3 mm, located in the carotid bifurcation, with no apparent airway involvement. Angiography shows a typical "lyre" image, in which the ovoid lesion shows a homogeneous hyperenhancement of contrast, as well as an opening of the carotid bifurcation.

Based on the clinical and imaging findings, a diagnosis of carotid body paraganglioma is made. Due to the size of the lesion, selective embolisation was performed with polidocanol foam and, 48 hours later, under general anaesthesia and orotracheal intubation, surgical resection of the lesion was performed with a laterocervical approach anterior to the sternocleidomastoid muscle, dissection by planes until the lesion was located, which was completely resected with subadventitial dissection; collateral carotid branches were ligated for haemostatic purposes, maintaining the integrity of the carotid arteries. The specimen obtained is sent for histopathological study, in which the presence of clusters or nests of oval cells with uniform hyperchromatic nuclei surrounded by vascular stroma is observed, forming the Zellballen pattern, the classic pattern of carotid body paraganglioma.