A review of 270 parotid gland excisions performed at the Maxillofacial Surgery Department of University Hospital Center of Coimbra over a 10 year period is presented. The medical record of all patients with parotid gland excision were reviewed retrospectively from January 2000 to December 2009 ( n = 270). This data included age, gender, clinical presentation, diagnostic procedures, histopathology, operative reports, complications, additional treatment and follow-up. We also evaluated the correlation between the cytological findings of fine-needle aspiration (FNA) and the histological diagnosis. In our series, of 270 patients who underwent parotidectomy, 222 (82.22%) had benign and 48 (17.78%) malignant lesions. The average age was 52 years, 49 years for benign lesions and 63 years for malignant tumours. The most common tumour was pleomorphic adenoma, 132 (48.89%), followed by Warthin’s tumour 25 (9.26%). The most frequent malignant tumour was metastatic carcinoma (2.96%), followed by acinar cell carcinoma, squamous epithelial-myoepithelial and undifferentiated carcinoma. From the 270, 192 (71.11%) corresponded to superficial, 41 (15.19%) to total, 31 (11.48%) to partial superficial and 6 (2.22%) to radical parotidectomy. Most of the patients were treated by partial superficial or total parotidectomy. This large 10 years review study could improve our understanding of the distribution and treatment of parotid gland diseases in Portugal.

Key words: parotid gland; pleomorphic; Warthin’s