Abscess deep lobe of parotid: An interesting patient.

Swelling ParotidThick pus drained

Abscess deep lobe of parotid: An interesting patient.
As I most of the times say that the whole approach to any patient, may it be of any specialty of medicine is somewhat tailored in developing countries specially a country like mine: Pakistan and that mainly is because of many reasons, including decreased manpower and reduced resources.
This in turn leads to some amazing and interesting events while managing patients. A patient comes to our surgery clinic with this swelling in the left parotid region for the last one and a half year and clinically is diagnosed as a case of benign parotid tumour. The FNAC report though just elaborates an inflammatory cells pattern. An initial plan of superficial parotidectomy was made. As a routine we don’t get an ultrasound of a suspected benign parotid tumor.
The patient also had slight pain in the region for the last two weeks but was thought to be because of mild nerve compression. A last minute suggestion of a team surgeon to get an ultrasound showed an abscess in deep lobe of parotid. The most interesting fact was that it was actually an enlarged parotid with deep seated abscess. An incision and drainage was done last week and an interval parotidectomy is planned.