The prevention and management of complications in parotid and other ​ major salivary gland surgeries.

Abstract

The prevention and management of complications that appear after the application of the classical techniques of traditional surgery of the major salivary glands, during the intra-operative or post-operative period, are not a common subject in the international literature and the number of scientific articles is relatively small. The most frequently occurring and most serious postoperative complications, early or late, are the partial or complete transection of the facial nerve or its branches, the development of neuroma on the transection of the greater auricular nerve, Frey’s syndrome, the deformed scars on the face, the numbness of the cheek and auricle, salivary fistula, sialocele, seroma, parotid removal skin intrusion and facial asymmetry, surgical incision keloid, and surgical wound inflammation-infiltration,which have been studied and adequately documented (30, 35). The increasingly frequently applied modern,advanced and minimally invasive-endoscopic surgical procedures which tend to replace traditional surgical techniques, are distinguished by their rapid recovery and significantly lower rate of complications. Endoscopic operations of the major salivary glands and the complica- tions associated with them are minor and usually belong to the general postoperative complications such as local inflammation, hematoma, injury, rupture and stricture of the excretory duct.