Treatment of mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the parotid gland and successful repair of iatrogenic facial nerve paralysis

Abstract

A 15-year-old female patient developed facial nerve paralysis following surgical excision of a right parotid mass at another center. The histopathologic diagnosis of the lesion was mucoepidermoid carcinoma. On admission to our clinic, she underwent extended total parotidectomy and functional neck dissection. For facial nerve reanimation, cervical plexus nerve grafting was performed for frontal and buccal branches, and ansa hypoglossi anastomosis for the marginal mandibular branch. Postoperative radiotherapy was administered. Facial nerve functions returned to normal in the postoperative sixth month (House-Brackmann grade II). No locoregional recurrence or distant metastasis occurred in the follow-up period.