Glomus jugulare tumours--combined treatment: part I.

Total en bloc removal is the ideal surgical treatment for glomus jugulare tumours. Efforts to accomplish this have been made periodically since shortly after this tumour was first identified in the early 1940s. A method of removal using a combined approach through the neck and temporal bone is described here. This method is preceded by pre-operative irradiation therapy and on occasion by embolization. The early results obtained using this method in 19 patients are reported.