subject: What Do You Know About Tumor Surgery? [print this page] What Do You Know About Tumor Surgery? What Do You Know About Tumor Surgery?
Parotid tumor surgery is known as parotidectomy. It is a process of removing drain infections and tumor from parotid gland. This gland is also known as a salivary gland which is located in on each side of your face. It has two parts, the deep lobe and superficial lobe. Parotid tumor surgery is very complicated for facial nerve which runs through the parotid gland. If the surgery disturbs this nerve, it will cause some serious consequences like facial paralysis.
Surgery is needed when the parotid glands is diagnosed of having a tumor, blockage, or infection. Tumor may be cancerous (malignant) or noncancerous (benign). When an abscess comes to this gland, it can cause difficulty eating and fever. In addition, the stones in saliva can block the drainage duct of the gland and lead to infection and cause swelling.
The surgery for this type of tumor may take two up to five hours to accomplish. It depends highly on the amount of the gland which needs to be removed. Before performing surgery, surgeon puts the patients under anesthesia. Firstly, the surgeon creates a cut along the front of ear to the neck. If the patients have benign tumors, the superficial lobe will be removed. On the other hand, if the patients have malignant gland, it will be entirely removed. Unfortunately, there is no alternative treatment for this tumor. Surgery is the only treatment option.
After the surgery, the patients should leave the hospital with a drain in place and suture on your skin. The drain is to collect the saliva and blood from the wound. The drain should be removed after two up to four days after the surgery. To gain complete healing, the patients should take antibiotics. In addition, soft liquid diet is recommended.
There are some risks which can be caused by parotid surgery. According to Georgetown University Hospital, the risks include infections at the incision site, in facial paralysis, saliva drainage, and Frey syndrome. Frey syndrome is indicated by face sweating while eating.
