A Contemporary View on the Anatomy of Parotid Gland

Abstract

One of the up-to-date issues of contemporary medicine is the study of the features of individual anatomical structure variability of various organs. In recent years, the incidence of parotid gland diseases has been rising. This phenomenon can be associated with an absolute increase in this organ pathologies incidence as well as with the development of additional methods of examination and visualization of the gland. Most pathologies of major salivary glands, in particular the parotid gland, require surgical treatment. Knowledge of topographical relationship of the parotid gland with the adjacent vessels and nerve trunks is utterly necessary for planning and performing surgical interventions and reconstructive operations in the parotid region. According to the statistics, surgical interventions on the parotid gland take the leading place among the causes of damage to the facial nerve branches. This fact may also prove a large variation in the syntopy of the facial nerve and the parotid gland. The paper reviews the data of native and foreign literature on the anatomy of parotid gland and the place of radiation research methods in the study of its topographical and anatomical features. The analysis revealed a wide range of anatomical norm of parotid gland in many parameters, including shape, linear size, blood supply, and topographical features. The practice of using anthropometric studies aimed at structuring the existing knowledge and narrowing the borders of anatomical norm for various organs proved to be successful. However, in the pool of scientific papers, we have not found similar studies concerning parotid gland. The facts mentioned above make the background and justify further studies of parotid gland in the context of normal individual variability.