Objective: To explore the prevention of complications during the the paralaryngeal space (PPS) neoplasms surgery.
Method: A retrospect study was carried out from 41 patients, suffering from paralaryngeal space neoplasms and recerving surgery from 1990 to 2002. The surgical procedures included oral approach in 6 cases, parotid approach in 6 cases, cervical approach in 25 cases, cervical approach with mandibular swing in 2 cases and lateral skull-base approach 2 in cases. Eight cases got the tracheodectomy during the operations. The tumor in 37 cases were resected throughly, except for 4 cases with partial resection.
Result: The patients were followed up for 11 months to 6 years. The surgical complications consists of surgical cavity infections in 2 cases, a massive bleeding in 1 case with huge nerve sheath tumor and permanent nerves damage in 7 cases, including Horner's syndrome (2 cases) and nerves damage (5 cases), such as VII, IX, X and XI. Six cases relapsed: 1 case with benign tumor through oral approach and 5 cases with malignant neoplasms.
Conclusion: Familiarity with PPS anatomy, preoperational evaluation in detail, proper surgery approach and perfect treatment during the operation are vital important to avoid the complications in PPS neoplasms.