gms | German Medical Science

As a centre for parotid gland diseases in Hungary we have gained wide experience in the treatment of parotid gland tumours. Retrospectively we reviewed patients’ data of 20 years. We collected information regarding tumour type, stage, grade, type of treatment, extent of surgery, recurrence and survival rate. Between 1984 and 2004 we performed 2890 operations on the parotid gland, in 199 patients they were done due to malignancy. Besides the most common tumour types such as MEC, acinar cell carcinoma, adenoid cystic carcinoma and adenocarcinoma, we found rare tumours such as haemangioendothelioma, rhabdomyosarcoma or metastasis of kidney, lung and prostate cancer. In the majority of the cases we performed total parotidectomy, in 38% resection of the facial nerve, in 30% removal of the adjacent tissue (external auditory meatus, digastric muscle, sternocleidomastoid muscle) and in 22% neck dissection were necessary. Adjuvant postoperative irradiation was indicated in half of the cases. Our results suggest that prognosis depends primarily on the grade and only secondarily on the tumour type. The clinical outcome was greatly impaired by the extent of the tumour on the skull base. Patients with metastasis in level IV have never achieved a survival of 2 years.