At a single institution over 25 years, 110 patients were operated upon
for a mixture of parotid disease, The mean duration of symptoms for b
enign disease was 40.8 months compared with 15.6 months for malignant
disease, Pain was a significant feature of malignant parotid disorders
(46.1% compared with 17.8% for benign conditions), The pathology of t
hese masses was diverse, with pleomorphic adenoma being the commonest
(44%), Superficial parotidectomy was the commonest procedure employed
(69/110) with local excision being performed only prior to 1984 (15/11
0), There were fire cases of permanent facial palsy, all following rad
ical resection for malignancy. One patient developed Frey's syndrome,
Recurrence rate for pleomorphic adenomas was 7/48 (15%), three followi
ng enucleations prior to 1984, In primary malignancy of the parotid, 3
/21 (14%) developed recurrences. Parotid tumours have a low incidence,
Surgery for these tumours can be safely performed by those with a spe
cial interest in parotid surgery.