Farooq Ahmed, Farooq Ahmed, Muhammed Ehsanul Haque, Riaz Ahmad, Imran Ahmed, Nabila Kaukab.
Facial nerve; pattern of distribution in the parotid gland.
Professional Med J Jan ;12(1):85-90.

Superficial or total parotidectomy with preservation of the facial nerve has been commonly used for many years in the surgical treatment of parotid gland tumors. Objective: During dissection of the parotid gland variations are observed. The operating surgeon should be familiar with these variations, to reduce the incidence of post operative facial nerve paralysis. Setting: The study was conducted in the department of Anatomy, Quaid-e-Azam Medical College and Department of Surgery Bahawal Victoria Hospital Bahawalpur during the year 2001 to 2003. Material & Methods: Facial nerve was dissected in a total fifty seven specimens, 21 cadavers (bilateral) and 15 patients (unilateral). Their ages were between 25 to 65 years. Of these 9 were females and the rest were males. Results: In this study fifty seven parotid glands were dissected. Out of fifty seven patients, 89.5% had facial nerve configuration that could be classified into five main types & 10.5% did not fit into any of these categories. Type III was the commonest (36.7%) while type II & V were not present in any of the case dissected. Type I & IV were seen in 26.3% of the dissected cases each. Conclusion: In parotid gland surgery if the branching variations are kept in mind, the surgeon will be safe from unpleasant surprises.

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