Review of accessory parotid gland tumors: pathologic incidence and surgical management

The current study presents our experience with accessory parotid gland masses and reviews the literature on accessory parotid tumor incidence and surgical management. Based on our results, we advocate a standard parotidectomy approach with routine facial nerve dissection at the time of excision.

We performed a retrospective chart review and comprehensive literature review on incidence of accessory parotid gland neoplasms.

A retrospective chart review of all patients with mid-cheek masses treated by the senior author was conducted from January 2003 to January 2009. The tumor size at presentation, FNA biopsy, pathologic diagnosis, and surgical treatment were recorded for 13 patients.

In the case series, 54% of lesions were benign (n=7) and 46% were malignant (n=6) including benign pathologies of 4 pleomorphic adenomas, 2 lymphadenitis, 1 monomorphic adenoma and malignant pathologies of 2 mucoepidermoid carcinoma, 2 B-cell lymphomas, 1 adenocarcinoma, and 1 myofibrosarcoma. Surgical intervention was performed on all patients with standard parotidectomy incision for accessory parotid mass excision after identification and tracing of facial nerve and its branches.

The present study provides support for a standard parotid incision with identification of the facial nerve at the time of surgical incision as this resulted in successful excision of accessory parotid tumors with favorable cosmetic results and without facial paralysis or tumor recurrence. Literature review of 152 cases of accessory parotid gland lesions, revealed a pooled incidence of 70% benign and 30% malignant.