title: Landmarks for parotid gland surgery.
abstract: Many surgical landmarks have been suggested to help the surgeon identify the facial nerve when performing parotid gland surgery. There is no conclusive evidence that any one landmark is better than the rest. In this study distances from the most frequently used surgical landmarks to the main trunk of the facial nerve were measured in 30 halves of cadaver heads. Two ENT surgeons assessed the best landmark in each case. The tympanomastoid suture was nearest to the main trunk and was therefore considered the most reliable landmark. Its average distance to the main trunk of the facial nerve was 2.7 mm. This result was consistent with the subjective best score given by two ENT surgeons.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University Medical Centre Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: de Ru
authors.forename: P P
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: van Benthem
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Bleys
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lubsen
authors.forename: G J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Hordijk
mesh_terms: D002102:Cadaver; D005154:Facial Nerve / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D020220:Facial Nerve Injuries / Q000517:prevention & control; D006801:Humans; D007431:Intraoperative Complications / Q000517:prevention & control; D015588:Observer Variation; D010306:Parotid Gland / Q000601:surgery*