Malignant carotid body tumors are rare, with spread of the tumor mostly noted in regional lymph nodes. Vertebral metastases are an exceedingly rare presentation, only reported in isolated case reports, and present a diagnostic and management challenge. A case of widespread vertebral metastasis, presenting with myelopathy, from a carotid body tumor is discussed in this paper, along with management strategies.
Keywords: I131-MIBG = iodine-131 meta-iodobenzylguanidine; PG = paraganglioma; carotid body tumor; oncology; paraganglioma; vertebral metastasis.