Vol.96 No.4 contentsPRACTICA OTO-RHINO-LARYNGOLOGICA
Vol. 96 No. 4 April 2003
Recurrent Pleomorphic Adenomas of
the Parotid Gland
Sayoko Goto, Toshio Yoshihara and Akio Shino
(Tokyo Women's Medical University)
Three hundred and eleven parotid tumors were excised in our hospital between January 1989 and March 2002. The clinical courses, pathological findings and methods of therapy in 11 patients with recurrent pleomorphic adenomas of the parotid gland are presented.
Of these 11 patients, 4 were male and 7 were female. The interval to first recurrence was 5-30 years. Six were first recurrent cases, 3 were second recurrent cases and 2 were third recurrent cases. Four were single recurrent tumors and 7 were multiple recurrent tumors. The initial pathogical diagnosis was pleomorphic adenoma in all 11 cases, however, 2 cases showed malignant changes : one was mucoepidermoid carcinoma, and the other was adenocarcinoma. Surgery was performed in all cases : 6 were partial parotidectomy, 3 were total parotidectomy, and 2 were tumor resection. Post operatively, one case showed facial paresis, but this case has almost completely recoverd at present. There was neither evidence of Frey's syndrome nor recurrence in any of the 11 cases post operatively.
Recurrent pleomorphic adenomas of the parotid gland may occur in the following cases : 1) cases receiving tumor enucleation, 2) cases with rupture of the capsule during surgery, or 3) cases in which myxoid stroma predominates in the tumor.
The appropriate treatment for recurrent pleomorphic adenoma is complete resection. Therefore, we must make an exact preoperative evaluation of the parotid region by CT and MRI image.
Key words : recurrent pleomorphic adenoma, parotid gland, pathology, surgery