Objective: To assess the value of clinical (House-Brackmann grading) and neurophysiological (conventional electroneurography) monitoring of the facial nerve before and after (at day 10 and day 80) microsurgical parotidectomy in a group of patients with parotid tumors.
Study design and setting: From January 7, 1999, to February 27, 2001, 33 patients were evaluated for parotid neoplasms confirmed by cytologic examination: 27 were benign and 6 were malignant epithelial tumors. All patients underwent preoperative electroneurography of the affected side and the normal contralateral side.
Results: Preoperatively, 27 of 33 patients with benign lesions had normal facial nerve function on clinical and neurophysiological evaluation, while 3 of 6 patients with malignant lesions showed compound muscle action potential abnormalities of amplitude and latency, in the absence of facial nerve deficits. At the first postoperative evaluation, 2 of 6 patients with epithelial cancer and 4 of 27 patients with benign tumors had an absence of voluntary activity and compound muscle action potentials after nerve stimulation at the stylomastoid foramen; 1 patient with a malignant lesion and 5 patients with benign tumors had a transient facial palsy with amplitude reduction or latency prolongation of compound muscle action potential. This abnormality persisted in 2 of 27 patients at the second evaluation performed at day 80 after surgery. In 2 of 6 patients with malignant lesions, the day-80 electroneurogram showed a complete absence of nerve conduction.
Conclusion: Electroneurography is a sensitive tool for monitoring clinically silent facial nerve function deficits in the context of preoperative tumor-induced damage and postsurgical early and late follow-up of nerve function.