A modified endaural and neck approach to the parotid gland tumor

ABSTRACT

Generally we use the preauricular incision to access and remove the parotid gland tumor. But the preauricular approach has some complications such as damage of facial nerve and sensory nerve, Frey's syndrome, and postoperative scar. Especially, the postoperative scar can often cause an unesthetic result and mental stress in young patients. Therefore, if we avoid preauricular incision to be performed outside of tragus, the postoperative scar would be hardly remarkable, and patients would be satisfied cosmetically. We performed surgical excision using a modified endaural and neck approach in a 21-year-old female with a pleomorphic adenoma and 15-year-old male with a neurofibroma occured in the parotid gland. A new, modified endaural and neck approach is a combined method of the modified endaural incision by Starck et al and Gutierrez's neck extension. We obtained an adequate access and the cosmetically acceptable postsurgical scar. The postoperative scars were hidden in the external ear and the hairline. Moreover, except the neck dissection can this approach be applied to the surgery of temporomandibular joint as well as the parotid gland tumor.