Abstract
Seventy eight cases with parotid tumors were treated in our clinic for the past ten years. Problems of preoperative exact diagnosis and treatments of parotid tumors were discussed. Summarized results were as follows. Recent advanced several new auxiliary procedure for the preoperative exact diagnosis of parotid tumors, for ex- ample, scintigraphy using 99mTc pertechnetate and 67Ga-citrate, computed tomography (CT) and ultrasonics were useful for selection of the proper surgical treatment. However, any decisive conclusion for the exact preoperative evaluation of a malignancy of parotid tumors could not be obtained from these procedures. In the existing circumstance, exact preoperative evaluation of parotid tumors should be confirmed synthetically by the use of these auxiliary procedures. Clinician does not be over-confident to the results of biopsy or frozen section at the time of surgery. Malignancy of parotid tumors should be decided synthetically from operative findings and histopathological results. Discovery of the facial nerve is always prerequisite to extripation of the lesion, which protect the nerve from any unnecessary surgical injury of facial nerve. An expert information of facial nerve surgery needs for parotid surgery. Surgeon must be skilled in the operation of the facial nerve. The development of electromicro-histopathology or histochemical research will be expected for the exact preoperative evaluation of a malignancy in parotid tumors in future.
