Postoperative complications after removal of pleomorphic adenoma from the parotid gland: A long-term follow up of 297 patients from 2002 to 2016 and a review of publications

Abstract Pleomorphic adenomas are rounded, lumpy, capsulated lesions that are more common in women. They are typically benign, but can be associated with malignancy in a minority of cases (such as carcinoma ex pleomorphic adenoma), between 3% - 12% of the time, according to available data. The purpose of our study was to evaluate clinical outcomes in patients with benign parotid gland tumours after extracapsular dissection (ECD) or superficial parotidectomy (SP). We made a retrospective study of 297 patients who had had benign tumours of the parotid gland, and had been referred to our department from 2002 – 2016 to have either procedure. We measured the statistical differences between the two techniques (evaluated recurrence rate and complications) with the chi squared test. The chosen level of statistical significance was p