[Medium-malignancy tumors of the parotid gland]

Among the 437 parotidectomies performed from 1966 to 1989, we observed 2 acinar-cell tumors and 11 mucoepidermoid carcinomas, ie. 3%. The acinar-cell tumors occurred in 2 men aged 45 and 71. A conservative complete parotidectomy was performed in both cases with a 6 and 7-year survival without local recurrence. The mucoepidermoid tumors affected 4 women and 7 men. The clinical appearance in 2 cases was highly suggestive of a malignant tumor, the picture including facial palsy, fixed gaze and adenopathy. In spite of excision completed by radiation therapy, the outcome soon was unfavorable. In the other 9 patients presenting with a limited tumor of the parotid gland, the facial nerve had to be partly sacrificed in 2 cases because no dissection was possible even under a microscope. The prognosis was generally favorable in the limited forms with 6/6 patients alive at more than 5 years and 3 patients alive at 3 years, 2 years and 1 year. Postoperative radiation therapy was not performed systematically, but only in 2/3 of cases (ill-delineated or ill-differentiated tumor).