[Radical parotid surgery of metastatic malignant melanoma]

With an increasing incidence of the malignant melanoma we also have to expect an increasing number of metastases of the parotid lymph nodes. Up to now there are no definite guidelines concerning the surgical treatment of these metastases. What is important is the question whether the facial nerve should be resected or retained. Between 1987 and 1991 in the ENT-clinic of the University Hamburg-Eppendorf eight patients were treated for metastases of a malignant melanoma in the parotid gland. The clinical course demonstrates that there is no indication for a radical surgical treatment of these patients. It neither leads to a delayed appearance of distant metastases, nor does it improve the life expectancy.