Pattern of Distribution in Facial Nerve in the Benign Parotid Gland Tumors

Abstract

Generally in any parotid surgery it is necessary to identify the trunk and branches of the facial nerve. For damage to this nerveor its branches may have irreparable consequences. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the frequency of anatomical variation of facial nerve branching in patients undergoing parotid surgery. 94 patients undergone parotid surgery in Imam Khomeini Hospital of Jondishapur Universityof Ahvaz from September 2011 to September 2014 were studied. All patients had benig nunilateral parotid surgery. During surgery and dissection, the parotid glands of the patients were photographed and the anatomy of the facial nerve and its branches in the parotidglands of patients were interpreted. The schematic picture of the anatomy of thefacial nerve within the parotidg land was drawn. The images were divided into three groups: type A, Band C. :The number of patients with a variety of nerve type A was 25, type B,47and type C,22. The comparison between the nerve and sexusing the Chi-square test showed that there is no significant relationship between gender and type of nerve (P value = 0.6). The range of the patients' age was 25-65years. In this study no newlandmark was found and of the 94 patients, 25 (26%) weretypeA, 47 (50%) type B and 22 (24%) typeC. In the parotid surgery, if the anatomical variation of facial nerve is kept in the mind, the adverse effects and damage tothe facial nerve and its branches can be avoided. More accurate and complete study of the anatomical nerve branching can benefitall types of surgery involved in the area.