How we have treated parotid gland tumors

Since the Clinic was established in 1972 to the end of 1994 at the Clinic for Maxillofacial Surgery of the Military Medical Academy 782 patients with tumors of the parotid salivary glands of glandular origin were treated. This number included only patients with sufficient data for the relevant analysis. There were 659 (85.53%) benign and 123 (14.47%) malignant tumors. They are rare in the age 0-20. Their incidence increases after the third decade, reaching the maximum in the sixth decade. The most frequent tumors were of 3 cm diameter (36.24%). The average size of tumors varied from 3 to 6 cm in diameter (29.36% of cases). Tumors larger than 15 cm are extremely rare. All patients were surgically treated: subtotal parotidectomy was done in 55.23%, total in 38.61% and radical in 6.16%. Transient facial nerve injuries were recorded in 18.63% of cases (mainly at total parotidectomy). Out of 94 patients with malignant tumors of the parotid gland, 78.13% survived for 2 years and 48.89% for 5 years. Recurrence rate for benign parotid tumors was 2.38%, and for malignant 17.62% (after total parotidectomy) and 26.12% (after the radical one).