Vol.99 No.6 contentsPRACTICA OTO-RHINO-LARYNGOLOGICA
Vol. 99 No. 6 June 2006
Surgical Treatment of Benign Parotid Gland Tumors
Masato Teraoka, Koshiro Nakamura, Taisuke Kobayashi and Shoichiro Takeda
(Ehime Prefectual Central Hospital)
The goal of surgical treatment for benign parotid gland tumors is to remove the mass completely without causing facial nerve palsy. In recent years, limited parotidectomy is becoming a new standard procedure for benign tumors, replacing superficial parotidectomy, and excellent results equal to the old procedure are being reported.
This study evaluates the postoperative results of 59 benign parotid tumors treated surgically between 1991 and 2001, then determined whether limited parotidectomy can become the new standard of surgical management for benign parotid tumor.
In 39 of the 59 patients, we investigated the frequency of local recurrence, Frey's syndrome and facial palsy. The histopathological diagnosis was pleomorphic adenoma in 17, Warthin's tumor in 15 and miscellaneous tumor including cyst, lymphoepithelial lesion or other lesions in 7, respectively. Twenty-one patients underwent partial parotidectomy, 10 enucleation and 8 superficial parotidectomy, respectively. The postoperative follow-up duration ranged from 3 to 14 years with an average of 7.54 years.
According to the results of this follow-up study, there was no recurrence with each surgical procedure. Frey's syndrome did not occur in any patient after partial parotidectomy compared to that in 3 patients (37.5％) after superficial parotidectomy. Four patients (19.0％) temporarily experienced in some degree of facial nerve weakness after partial parotidectomy.
From these results, partial parotidectomy is thought to be a new trend in the surgical treatment of benign parotid tumor.
Key words : benign parotid tumor, partial parotidectomy, complication