The management of parotid tumors; a ten-year experience

In a retrospective study 101 patients who underwent surgery for a parotid mass were evaluated. The different diagnostic modalities (sialography, ultrasound, needle biopsy and frozen section) are described and discussed. Eighty-one tumors proved to be benign, of which 56 patients had a pleiomorphic adenoma, ten of them had a recurrent pleiomorphic adenoma, all after an enucleation, which again proved to be an inadequate operation for a parotid mass. The 20 malignant parotid tumors had a poor clinical outcome. Of the 18 patients with a malignant primary parotid tumor three showed a local recurrence and five metastatic disease within five years. The morbidity of parotid surgery is mainly due to post-operative facial nerve weakness (30%), which is mostly reversible, and the Frey syndrome (10%).