NEURAL COMPLICATIONS AFTER SUPERFICIAL PAROTIDECTOMY

Gülhane Askeri Tıp Akademisi, Kulak Burun Boğaz, Ankara, Türkiye Thirty-nine patients who had undergone superficial parotidectomy were asked to answer phone survey questions in order to evaluate postoperative neural complications including facial nerve function loss, abnormal sensation around the ear and the cheek, and symptoms of Frey syndrome. Mean ± SD follow-up was 27± 16 months (range, 9 to 67 months). Eighteen of the patients (46.1%) reported immediate postoperative facial muscle weakness. Of those, 3 (16.7%) had permanent facial nerve dysfunction and overall incidence of permanent facial nerve paralysis due to superficial paralysis was 7.7 %. The marginal mandibular branch was the most common branch involved (72.2%), followed by the buccal branch (44.4%), zygomatic branch (33.3%) and frontal branch (22.2%). Twenty-three of the patients (59.0%) reported abnormal sensations in the ear and cheek region. Of those, 9 patients (39.1%) noted that the symptoms were resolved within 3 to 12 months. Thirty-six percent of the patients who had undergone superficial parotidectomy described permanent abnormal sensations in the ear and cheek region. Six patients (15.4%) reported that they were experiencing symptoms of Frey syndrome. Keywords : Parotidectomy, complications, facial paralysis, Frey’s syndrome, neural