Head and Neck ImagingGlomus vagale tumour
glomus tumour arising at or just below the nodose ganglion of the vagal nerve. A glomus vagale
tumour lies within the
carotid space. Differentiation from an inferiorly growing glomus jugulare may be difficult; a
carotid body tumour may also be seen to extend superiorly into the carotid space. A glomus vagale
tumour may be asymptomatic, or may cause vagal nerve dysfunction (vocal cord paralysis), and/or hypoglossal or glossopharyngeal nerve dysfunction, and
tinnitus. On
CT and
MRI, these tumours will nearly always displace the internal carotid
artery anteromedially (
Fig.1).
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Axial gadolinium-enhanced T1-weighted spin-echo image. A strongly enhancing soft tissue mass, with intratumoral signal voids, is seen in the right carotid space. Note typical anteromedial displacement of the internal carotid artery (arrowhead); the internal jugular vein, being compressed and displaced posteromedially, is not clearly identifiable on this image (courtesy by Bert De Foer, MD, Antwerp, Belgium).
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Glomus vagale tumour, Fig.1 | |