The temporal branch of the facial nerve was examined in eight cadav-er dissections. Number of rami crossing the zygornatic arch and their loca-tion with respect to bone and soft-tissue landmarks were' estimated. The temporal branch travelled in a constant plane along the under surface of the tentporoparietal fascia and was superficial as it crossed the zygomat-ic arch. Based on these relationships. a safe method of dissection within the temporal region was formulated. in five cases with retromarulibular parotid neoplasms, the seventh cranial nerve was located through retro-grade exploration of its temporal branch. The decision to resort to the identification of the temporal branch is supported by its adequate calibre in its peripheral area, short course, and multiple rami crossing the zygo-matte arch, which enable it to be easily located. Retrograde or centripetal approach to facial nerve has been found to be anatomically sound, simple to use and safe. It must be indicated when anterograde exploration is difficult.
Introduction Parotid neoplasms arc quite di-verse in terms of their histology and. biologic behavior. As a group, they represent about 2% of all head and neck neoplasms. and account for 70 % to 80 % of all ne-oplasm of the salivary glands (Bai-ley. 2001).
Parotid surgery is of particular interest in account of the close re-lationship of the gland with the extrapetrous facial nerve, as this noble structure conditions the outcome of the operation. Pre-operatively intact facial nerve must be retained in presence of any grade malignancy, including |
