Facial nerve monitoring in parotid gland surgery: Design and feasibility assessment of a potential standardized technique.

Background: Even though the use of nerve monitoring during parotid gland surgery is not the gold standard to prevent damage to the nerve, it surely offers some advantages over the traditional approach. Different from thyroid surgery, where a series of steps in intraoperative nerve monitoring have been described to confirm not only the integrity but-most importantly-the function of the recurrent laryngeal nerve, in parotid gland surgery, a formal guideline to follow while dissecting the facial nerve has yet to be described.

Methods: A five-year retrospective study was done reviewing the intraoperative records of patients who underwent parotid gland surgery under neural monitoring.