[Gustatory sweating following parotidectomy. Frey's syndrome].

398 out of 700 patients (= 56.8%), who underwent parotidectomy in the years 1969-1982 at the ENT-Clinic, University of Münster, answered a follow-up study on the postoperative onset of the auriculotemporal syndrome. We investigated the relations between marked sweating and different surgeons, surgical techniques, histology, lesions of the facial nerve, first appearance and mechanisms to elicit the sweating. The results are discussed with regard to the different hypotheses on the development of Frey's syndrome. No unequivocal indications regarding the cause of Frey's syndrome could be established.