Therapy of parotid tumors.

A therapy schedule is presented for the surgical treatment of parotid tumors, based on the experience gained from more than 600 operations for parotid tumors. The individual surgical techniques (lateral parotidectomy, total parotidectomy with preservation or resection of the facial nerve, with or without reconstruction of the nerve) are selected depending on the histologic findings in the tumors. The fact is stressed that in a tumor disease the lateral parotidectomy constitutes the minimal operation. The different tumors can be divided into four groups. The operative treatment of tumors of the facial nerve in its extratemporal course is particularly mentioned since clinically these growths usually appear to be parotid tumors.