gms | German Medical Science

In the surgery of tumors of the parotid gland the management of the facial nerve is very important. In fact, many authors declared as the surgery of parotid gland can be considered as the surgery of facial nerve. The features of 47 cases of parotid gland tumors observed at the Emergency County Hospital (Cluj-Napoca, Romania) are reported. In all cases a total or superficial parotidectomy was performed with/without neck dissection in case of neck metastases or electively in selected cases; high-grade malignancy necessitated nerve sacrifice; other frequent indications were preoperative facial-nerve paralysis, pain, rapid growth of the tumor or macroscopic tumor involvement. Radiotherapy was administrated in case of involvement of the facial nerve, and/or of the skin and/or of multiple neck metastases. The results of our experience emphasize as the neoplasms of the parotid gland can be treated sparing the facial nerve when it is clearly not involved without making worse prognosis. The minority of patients with parotid cancer who present with facial nerve palsy has a poor prognosis despite extensive surgical resection including the facial nerve.