1995 Volume 1995 Issue Supplement78 Pages 147-152
We treated an 81-year old woman with giant pleomorphic adenoma of the parotid gland. Although she was diagnosed with a parotis tumour 20 years earlier, it was not recommended that she underwent surgery because of a heart ailment. Consequently, the tumor was left untreated. The tumor gradually grew and became painful, prompting her to visit our hospital. Upon initial diagnosis, we did not find any facial palsy. Under general anesthesia, we extracted the tumor from the left parotid gland. The extracted tumor was 18 cm x 13 cm x 11 cm and weighed 1000 grams. Following surgery, the patient developed transitional incomplete palsy of the mandibular marginal branch of the facial nerve. but recovered four weeks later. We conducted pathological and histological tests on eight selected points of the tumor. Because the tunica was intact and the cells did not show any heteromorphy, the tumor was determined to be pleomophic adenoma. No malignant changes were found.
In general, tumor must be treated at an early stage, regardless of whether the tumor is benign. Doctors should recommend that patients undergo surgery when a parotis tumor is found.
