PRACTICA OTO-RHINO-LARYNGOLOGICA
Vol. 99 No. 8 August 2006
The Non-identified Method of Preserving the Mandibular
Branch of the Facial Nerve in Submandibular Surgery
of the Non-malignant Disease
Katsuhiro Yoshimura, Ryo Kawata, Yuichiro Tsuji,
Koutetsu Lie, Tetsuya Terada and Hiroshi Takenaka
(Osaka Medical College)
Surgical management of the mandibular branch of the facial nerve is important during excision of the mandibular triangle components. In general, there are two surgical approaches to preserve the nerve; the identified method and the non-identified method. We studied 45 patients who underwent excision of mandibular triangle components without malignancies. We used the non-identified method for all cases in this study. Facial paralysis occurred in 4 cases (8.9%) of pleomorphic adenoma, sialolithiasis, chronic inflammation and cyst, respectively. All paralyses were temporary. The non-identified method is likely to be more effective than the other method.
Key words : mandibular branch of the facial nerve, facial paralysis, pleomorphic adenoma, sialolithiasis