Abstract Carotid body tumour; also known as chemodectoma or carotid paraganglioma is a rare, highly vascular tumour arising from the paraganglia of carotid body. Head and neck paraganglioma account for 0.5% of all head and neck tumours. We report a case of a 25 year old female patient presenting with a painless, gradually progressive left lateral neck mass, diagnosed as carotid body tumour Shamblin class I by CT angiography and treated with local excision. Patient was followed up for 3 months with no recurrence or neurological complications. We report this case due to its rarity and the high vascularity and proximity to cranial nerves and major vessels make this tumour a surgical challenge.

Keywords: Carotid body tumour, Chemodectoma, Paraganglioma, Shamblin Criteria