EVALUATION OF EXTENSIVE SURGICAL EXCISION IN A PATIENT WITH RECURRENT PAROTID CANCER

Many surgeons have little interest in tumors of the salivary glands so that such tumors are on the borderline between the interest of otorhinolaryngologists and that of surgeons. Moreover, there are many surgeons who hesitate to perform surgical excision for a tumor that is associated with Bell's palsy or inveterate sialosyrinx. In the present study, a recurrent parotid cancer (14×10×7cm) with pulmonary metastasis was detected in a 57-year-old woman. This malignant mass and the involved gnathic windgall, the mandibular periosteum and the facial nerves were excised as extensively as possible. The extensive excision improved the patient's condition and the postoperative course was uneventful. The trismus due to facial nerve excision was not so severe as to disturb her daily life. As for prognosis of recurrent parotid cancer with distant metastasis, an approximately 20-percent five-year survival rate has been reported in the recent literature. On the basis of our experience and the literature, extensive surgical excision for the tumor is considered to be important.