Baroreflex and chemoreflex function after bilateral carotid body tumor resection.

Objective: To investigate whether bilateral carotid body tumor resection invariably and chronically affects arterial baroreflex or peripheral chemoreflex function.

Methods: We studied eight consecutive patients (two men and six women; ages 48.1 +/- 11.8 years), a median time of 3.4 years (range 1.3-20.6 years) after bilateral carotid body tumor resection, and 12 healthy control individuals (eight men and four women; ages 53.7 +/- 10.1 years). Baroreflex sensitivity (phenylephrine), blood pressure and its variability (24 h Spacelabs and 5 h Portapres recordings), responses to standard cardiovascular reflex tests and the ventilatory responses to normocapnic and hypercapnic hypoxia were assessed.

Results: Baroreflex sensitivity was lower in patients (6.4 +/- 7.2 ms/mmHg) than in controls (14.7 +/- 6.6 ms/mmHg; P +/- 0.011). Mean office blood pressure and heart rate were normal in patients (123.3 +/- 11.9/79.0 +/- 7.3 mmHg and 67.5 +/- 9.4 beats/min, respectively) and controls (117.8 +/- 10.6/74.0 +/- 6.8 mmHg and 61.1 +/- 9.2 beats/min, respectively). Blood pressure variability was increased during ambulatory measurements. Three patients exhibited orthostatic hypotension. The Valsalva ratio, an index of baroreflex-mediated cardiovagal innervation, was lower in patients (1.4 +/- 0.2) than in controls (1.8 +/- 0.5; P +/- 0.008). The normocapnic ventilatory response to hypoxia was absent in all patients, whereas a small residual response to hypoxia was observed under hypercapnic conditions in two patients.

Conclusions: Bilateral carotid body tumor resection results in heterogeneous expression of arterial baroreflex dysfunction, whereas the normocapnic hypoxic drive is invariably abolished as a result of peripheral chemoreflex failure.