Posterior auricular artery as a novel anatomic landmark for identification of the facial nerve: A clinical study

Laryngoscope Investigative Otolaryngology

article

Muyuan Liu MD¹  Litian Tong MD²  Manbin Xu MD¹  Xiang Xu MD²  Haipeng Guo MD¹  Shaowei Xu MD¹  Hanwei Peng MD¹ 

[1] Department of Head and Neck, Cancer Hospital of Shantou University Medical College;Department of Anesthesiology, Cancer Hospital of Shantou University Medical College

关键词: anatomic landmarks;    facial nerve;    parotid neoplasms;    posterior auricular artery;    posterior auricular nerve;   

DOI  :  10.1002/lio2.894

学科分类：环境科学（综合）

来源: Wiley

【 摘 要 】

Background In our previous cadaveric study, we highlighted the posterior auricular artery (PAA) as a potential landmark for early identification of facial nerve (FN) when performing parotidectomy. However, further clinical study is critically needed before this landmark could be applied in clinical practice. Methods For 31 patients enrolled, we tried to identify the FN by the guide of the PAA during parotidectomy. Additionally, the FN function was evaluated during follow-up. Results PAA could be exposed in 28 out of 31 (90.3%) patients during parotidectomy. Moreover, the FN trunk could be identified by the guide of the PAA in all these 28 patients with identifiable PAA. Furthermore, no iatrogenic FN damage happened in this study and the transient FN dysfunction rate was 5.7%. Conclusion The PAA is an ideal landmark for early identification of the FN trunk when performing parotidectomy.

【 授权许可】

CC BY|CC BY-NC-ND