Surgical Treatment of Parapharyngeal Space Salivary Gland Tumor

Introduction: Parapharyngeal space salivary gland tumors are very rare. The authors sought to examine the clinical features, treatment methods, and treatment results of parapharyngeal space salivary gland tumors in our hospital. Methods: The authors retrospectively enrolled 15 patients who were finally diagnosed as having parapharyngeal space salivary gland tumors from January 2010 to January 2021. Results: All parapharyngeal space salivary gland tumors arose from the prestyloid compartment. This study included 3 males and 12 females. The main symptoms were incidental diagnosis during imaging tests, followed by neck discomfort, oral mass, neck mass, and headache. Surgical methods for parapharyngeal space salivary gland tumors were performed in the following order: transcervical approach (n = 10), transcervical-parotid approach (n = 3), transoral approach (n = 1), and transparotid approach (n = 1). Pleomorphic adenoma was the most common tumor among parapharyngeal space salivary gland tumors. Conclusions: In the surgery of parapharyngeal space salivary gland tumors, a transcervical or transcervical-parotid approach was mainly used by predicting the origin site through radiologic examinations.