Trident Landmark as a Safe and Easy Method for Facial Nerve Trunk Identification During Superficial Parotidectomy

Kafrelsheikh University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Surgery; Head and Neck Disorder; Parotid Tumor; Parotid Neoplasms

Treatments: Procedure: Superficial parotidectomy

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04803032

10011616171

Details and patient eligibility

About

The parotid has a close relationship with the extra temporal course of the facial nerve. The study aimed to evaluate the accuracy and safety of trident landmark during superficial parotidectomy in the identification of the facial nerve trunk.

Full description

A prospective study was conducted between January 2018 and January 2020 at Kafr El-Sheikh university hospital (KUH) and Al Fayoum University Hospital (FUH), Egypt, on 60 patients with benign parotid tumors in the superficial lobe. All patients were subjected to superficial parotidectomy. The outcome was evaluated regarding the clinical success of facial nerve identification by trident landmark and early postoperative complications.

Enrollment: 60 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 65 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• patients with benign tumors of the superficial lobe of the parotid gland

Exclusion criteria

• cancers
• unfit patients for surgery

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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60 participants in 1 patient group

Superficial parotidectomy using trident landmark technique

Experimental group

Description:

A modified Blair incision was made along the preauricular skin crease with the same steps of the routine parotid surgery. Dissection was performed using bipolar cautery and blunt instrument; from the tragal cartilage (the anterior surface) until the bony anterior wall of the external auditory canal (EAC); from there, the dissection was done using a blunt instrument. The styloid process's base is the upper point of the trident landmark; it is the superior portion of the trident landmark. Identification of the posterior belly of the digastric muscle till its origin was performed deep to the sternocleidomastoid muscle; it is the lower point of the landmark. The facial nerve is located in the region between these two structures.

Treatment:

Procedure: Superficial parotidectomy