Bilateral Warthin's tumors in a Chinese--literature review and case report

Warthin's tumor is an unusual benign salivary gland tumor. It is predominantly found in Caucasians and is rare in non-Caucasians. The chief affected area of the tumor is the parotid gland. Of all salivary gland neoplasms, Warthin's tumor is the only lesion which is truly multicentric so it may have a second primary lesion, not a recurrence. The peak incidence is in the sixth decade of life. In sexual distribution, there is a male predominance but the incidence of female is progressively increasing. According to Lemelas's study, the increase in female incidence may relate to the increasing population of cigarette smoking of women. Bilateral parotid gland involvement is uncommon. The chief treatment of the tumor is surgical excision. The surgical methods include enucleation, superficial parotidectomy, total parotidectomy. It is very important to protect the facial nerves from injury during surgery. In this paper, we report a case of bilateral metachronous Warthin's tumors with cystic degeneration of parotid glands in a Chinese. Other than literature review and case report, four different methods to protect facial nerves from injury were briefly described.