Determining the Incidence of Complications Following Parotidectomy Surgery Based on Type of Drain

Parotidectomy surgery has different complications including facial nerve paralysis, hematoma, seroma, surgical site infection and flap necrosis. The temporary paresis of the facial nerve can occur due to stretching of the facial nerve or its branches in drain usage.

to investigate incidence of postsurgical complications in parotidectomy using of hemovac and penrose drain.

This longitudinal follow up study was performed in the patients with parotidectomy. The patients with temporary paresis of facial nerve in the recovery room, 24-48 hours, and one week after the surgery were determined. The data (characteristic variables and complications of parotidectomy) were introduced into SPSS 18 and analyzed. The significance level of statistical tests was considered less than 0.05.

The mean age of patients was 44.40±15.28 years, and the total incidence of temporary paresis of facial nerve was 16.7%. The frequency percentage of temporary facial nerve paresis at three times of measurement was higher in the group with hemovac drain than group with penrose drain, though these differences were not statistically significant (p-value>0.05). The frequency percentage of hematoma was the same in both groups. Further, the incidence of temporary paresis of facial nerve was higher in complete parotidectomy than superficial parotidectomy, which was not statistically significant (p=0.085).

The findings of this study suggest that the temporary paresis of facial nerve may be less in using of penrose drain following parotidectomy. Since the penrose drain is less expensive compared to hemovac drain, thus it seems that penrose drain could be preferred on hemovac drain. In order to achieve more robust evidence in this regard, more studies with larger sample size and longer follow-up period are proposed for the future.