Treatment of parotid gland tumors

A clinical review has been made of 55 patients who underwent surgery for parotid tumors between 1972 and 1987. The incidence of pleomorphic adenomas was 61.8%. The F.N.A.B. permitted us to reach a correct preoperative diagnosis in 94% of the cases. The surgical procedures we used were: enucleation in eight cases, enucleoresection in five cases, superficial parotidectomy in seven cases, total conservative parotidectomy in 28 cases, total parotidectomy sacrificing the facial nerve in four cases, extended surgery in three cases. For these last three patients a cycle of postoperative radiotherapy for a total of 6000-6500 R. was carried out. As regards complications and sequelae, we must report: temporary lesions of the facial nerve (12.76%), permanent lesions (17%), Frey's syndrome in 10.61%, while a salivary fistula arose in 6.38% of the cases. The follow-up of 47 patients allowed us to observe three recurrences in cases of pleomorphic adenomas (two after enucleoresection and one after superficial parotidectomy), three recurrences in malignant tumors treated with surgery and one recurrence after combined treatment surgery and radiotherapy.