Complications of Parotid Surgery—10 Years’ Experience

Background: Parotid surgery with dissection of the facial nerve\r\nbranches is a technically challenging surgery. Even in experienced hands, parotidectomy\r\nhas well-documented post-operative complications. We aim to evaluate complications\r\nfollowing parotid surgery. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the\r\ncharts of 187 patients who underwent parotidectomy from January 2010 to January 2020 performed in surgical oncology department\r\nSouth Egypt Cancer Institute, Assiut University, from patients (57.3% males and\r\n42.7% females, average age 42.96 years). Results: 78.4% Patients had benign tumors,\r\nthe most frequent being pleomorphic adenoma 55.1% followed by Warthin’s tumour\r\n16.9%, and 21.6% malignant tumors, mucoepidermoid carcinoma being the most\r\nfrequent. Superficial parotidectomy was the most common surgery 40.4% performed followed by 25.3%, total conservative\r\nparotidectomy, while 1.1%, underwent radical\r\nparotidectomy, (extended radical parotidectomy was performed 2.2%), and revision total parotidectomy (Recurrence 6.7%, and\r\nparotidectomy with modified radical neck dissection (MRND) 7.9%. The most\r\ncommon complication following parotidectomy was transient facial nerve palsy\r\n21.3%. Permanent facial nerve paresis was observed in 3.9%, sensory deficit in\r\n20.2%, sialocele in 6.7%, hematoma formation 3.4% and wound infection in 7.3%, and recurrence 7.3%. Frey’s syndrome occurred in 7.3% and salivary\r\nfistula 5.1%. Conclusion: Parotidectomy is safe procedure causing minimal complications. Transient facial palsy is\r\nthe most common postoperative complication.