The carotid body tumor is one of the commonest paragangliomas of the neck.

This tumor originates from cells located at the bifurcation of the common carotid artery. The tumor causes the splaying of the external and internal carotid arteries, causing the radiological sign known as the lyre sign.

Usually, there are no symptoms, just a palpable and pulsatile mass in the neck, due to its high vascularity.

There are cases in which the tumor is bilateral, this is more common in familial cases than sporadical cases.