Pleomorphic adenoma and benign parotid tumors: extracapsular dissection vs superficial parotidectomy--review of literature and meta-analysis

Objective: This study compared extracapsular dissection (ED) vs superficial parotidectomy (SP) in the treatment of pleomorphic adenoma and benign parotid tumors.

Study design: The research covered the years 1950-2011 in PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and Scopus. Of 1152 articles screened, 123 studies met the inclusion criteria. A review of the nomenclature of the different parotid surgery techniques was done. Recurrence rate, permanent facial nerve paralysis, and Frey syndrome of patients who underwent ED vs those who underwent SP were compared by meta-analysis.

Results: Our meta-analysis data comparing ED and SP found that: (1) the recurrence rate is higher in patients treated with SP; (2) SP has a higher incidence of cranial nerve VII paralysis; and (3) Frey syndrome is more common after SP.

Conclusions: ED may be a viable option in the treatment of unilateral benign parotid tumors of the superficial lobe, sized less than 4 cm, without involvement of the facial nerve.