Surgical site complications after parotid gland surgery for benign tumors in a centralized setting: A Clavien-Dindo class cohort analysis

Background: Surgical resection is the standard of care for parotid gland tumors. Comprehensive reports on the surgical complications of parotidectomy are lacking. This study focuses on surgical wound complications of parotid gland surgery.
Patients and methods: In the period 2002–2012, 390 consecutive patients (395 procedures) who underwent parotid gland surgery were selected for retrospective analysis. Based on subsequent management, the impact of surgical site complications was graded by the Clavien-Dindo Classification (CDC).
Results: In 83 (21.0%) of the procedures, at least one complication was registered. In total, 118 complications were described. Rated to CDC, 61 patients (15.4%) were graded as class 2 or higher. This implies therapy was dictated. Fortyfive (11.4%) of the complications were surgical site infections (SSI). In 9 patients (2.3%) surgical complications required a surgical intervention under general anesthesia (CDC class 3b), and in 19 patients (4.8%) other invasive treatment (CDC class 3a) was needed. Conclusions: The Clavien-Dindo Classification proved to be very useful for retrospective registration of surgical complications. Of the 61 patients, 33 were managed by conservative therapy. No risk profile was found for patients at risk for direct surgical complications.