Extra-capsular dissection in benign parotid tumors

Summary The type of surgery for benign parotid tumors is still lacking of general consensus: this retrospective study, from 1964 to 2004 with a minimum follow-up of 7 years, is carried out with the aim to evaluate the results of parotidectomy and extracapsular dissection (ECD). Patients and methods Three hundred forty-nine pts were operated for pleomorphic adenoma (219) or cystadenolymphoma (165). ECD was performed in 332 pts and parotidectomy in 52. Pts retrospectively provided health-related informations. The local recurrences and the complications were the main outcome measures. Results The total recurrence rate was 3.15%:2.3% after ECD and 12% after parotidectomy ( p  = 0001). The rate of post-operative complications was lower in the ECD group with 1.3% of permanent facial paralysis, 0.3% of salivary fistula and 1.3% of Frey’s syndrome compared to 4%, 6% and 44% respectively in the parotidectomy group. Conclusion ECD may be an effective alternative to parotidectomy for the treatment of benign parotid tumors and generally results in a low rate of recurrences and complications.