Clinical effect of masseter muscle flap in improving postoperative complications of benign tumors at the anterior edge of the superficial lobe of the parotid gland

Abstract:

Objective To investigate the clinical effect of masseter muscle flap in improving the complications after resection of benign tumors at the anterior edge of the superficial lobe of the parotid gland.Methods A retrospective analysis was performed for 42 patients who underwent resection of benign tumors at the anterior edge of the superficial lobe of the parotid gland in The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University from January 2020 to January 2021， among whom 18 patients in the experimental group underwent masseter muscle flap rotation repair simultaneously，and 24 patients in the control group did not undergo muscle flap transfer and only received closure and suture. These patients were followed up to record the incidence rate of salivary fistula within six months after surgery， the incidence rate of Frey’s syndrome（FS） within one year after surgery， and the subjective and objective ratings of depression deformity within one year after surgery.Results The statistical analysis using SPSS 25.0 showed that there were significant differences in the subjective and objective ratings of depression deformity between the experimental group and the control group（subjective： 1.33±0.84 vs. 2.46±0.78， P=0.000；Objective 1.00±0.77 vs. 2.58±0.65，P=0.000）， while there were no significant differences between the two groups in the incidence rates of salivary fistula （5.56% vs. 16.67%，P=0.370） and FS （0.00% vs. 4.17%，P=1.000）.Conclusion Masseter muscle flap has certain clinical significance in repairing depression deformity after resection of benign tumors at the anterior edge of the superficial lobe of the parotid gland， and it might be a new method for defect repair after surgery for parotid gland tumors.