Carotid body tumor is a extremely vascular paraganglioma arising from the carotid body which locates at the carotid bifurcation. Splaying of internal and external carotid artery helps to differentiate it from other tumors e.g. vagal schwannoma, vagal neurofibroma and vagal paraganglioma. The patient underwent preoperative embolization followed by surgical resection and the diagnosis of paraganglioma was confirmed.