[Prevention of complications during paralaryngeal space neoplasms surgery]

To explore the prevention of complications during the the paralaryngeal space (PPS) neoplasms surgery.

A retrospect study was carried out from 41 patients, suffering from paralaryngeal space neoplasms and recerving surgery from 1990 to 2002. The surgical procedures included oral approach in 6 cases, parotid approach in 6 cases, cervical approach in 25 cases, cervical approach with mandibular swing in 2 cases and lateral skull-base approach 2 in cases. Eight cases got the tracheodectomy during the operations. The tumor in 37 cases were resected throughly, except for 4 cases with partial resection.

The patients were followed up for 11 months to 6 years. The surgical complications consists of surgical cavity infections in 2 cases, a massive bleeding in 1 case with huge nerve sheath tumor and permanent nerves damage in 7 cases, including Horner's syndrome (2 cases) and nerves damage (5 cases), such as VII, IX, X and XI. Six cases relapsed: 1 case with benign tumor through oral approach and 5 cases with malignant neoplasms.

Familiarity with PPS anatomy, preoperational evaluation in detail, proper surgery approach and perfect treatment during the operation are vital important to avoid the complications in PPS neoplasms.