Surgical treatment strategy in Warthin tumor of the parotid gland

Warthin tumors are the second most common benign tumors of the parotid gland. We examined the clinical features of Warthin tumors in our hospital, and analyzed the consistency within the literatures.

The aim of this study is to analyze the clinical features of Warthin tumors in our 10-year experience of 118 Warthin tumors undergoing surgery at a single institute.

From December 2006 to December 2016, 110 patients who underwent surgical treatment for Warthin tumors were identified based on their medical records.

A total of 118 parotid gland operations were performed in 110 patients. Almost 90% of Warthin tumors were found in males, and average patient age was 66.1±6.1 years. The prevalence of smoking history was 89.1% (98/110). Eight patients (7.3%) had bilateral Warthin tumors. Seventy-seven lesions (65.3%) were located in the parotid tail portion, followed by 34 lesions in the superficial lobe (28.8%) and 7 lesions in the deep lobe (5.9%).

We determined the appropriate extent of surgery depending on the fine needle aspiration cytology and tumor location by computed tomography scans. Partial facial dysfunction after the operation was detected in 12 cases, and facial nerve function recovered within 3 months. Only one patient experienced a recurrence, and was disease free after the re-operation. We suggest that our treatment algorithm, depending on the location of tumors and the result of fine needle aspiration cytology, can be useful to determine the appropriate extent of surgery for Warthin tumors.