Surgical treatment of parotid gland tumors

Fifty patients (27 females, 23 males) operated on for parotid neoplasms are reported. Eleven patients (22%) had benign tumors, 31 (62%) mixed tumors and 8 (16%) malignant tumors. Among patients with benign neoplasms, 10 (90,9%) were treated by enucleation (En.) and 1 (9,1%) by superficial parotidectomy (S.P.). Twenty-five patients (80,6%) with mixed neoplasms were operated on by total conservative parotidectomy (T.C.P.), 3 (9,7%) by S.P. and 3 (9,7%) by En. Three cases (37,5%) of malignant neoplasms were treated by T.C.P., and 5 (62,5%) by total demolitive parotidectomy (T.D.P.), associated to lateral lymphadenectomy in 3 patients. On the basis of a follow-up concerning 41 patients and of data from the literature, the authors report their present surgical approach for mixed tumors, underlining their preference for T.C.P., and limiting S.P. only to some selected cases.