Frey syndrome: factors influencing the time to event

The superficial musculoaponeurotic system flap in the prevention of Frey syndrome: A meta-analysis

“…A decrease in clinical Frey syndrome incidence was observed in nine studies, whereas two found an increased incidence . The differences were statistically significant in three studies, not significant in five, and three publications did not perform any statistical evaluation …”

“…In the 11 studies, 550 patients underwent the SMAS technique, whereas the control parotidectomy group included 495 patients (Table ). The majority of studies were retrospective and not randomized, some prospective and not randomized, and only exceptionally prospective and randomized . Only one study used a blinded evaluation …”

“…The majority of parotidectomies performed were superficial, either because of the inclusion criteria of the studies or because of the clinical decision in most patients—Zhao et al including only patients with total parotidectomy. The majority (92%) of patients included had benign pathology due to the studies' inclusion criteria .…”

“…Among the identified articles, 33 were excluded because of the lack of control group (18), using fascia and SMAS (1), unclear incidence in the control group (1), duplicate publication in a different language (1), and dealing with Frey treatment (1), thus leaving 11 studies …”

Evaluation and Treatment of Frey Syndrome

“…studies indicate that these preventive surgical procedures are associated with a decrease in the clinical symptoms of FS [14][15][16][17][18]. However, there are also several others, which found no evidence of such an association [19,20]. Like any other surgical procedure, these procedures have their own share of limitations and risks of complications.…”