[Intraoperative ultrasound in surgery of the parotid and the head-and-neck region].
Sonography of the head-and-neck region is well established in the preoperative diagnostic process of tumorous lesions. Its intraoperative use to localise small tumours, however, has been rarely investigated to date. We applied intraoperative ultrasound to 19 patients who underwent parotid surgery and evaluated the following criteria: intraoperative tumour presentation, scan quality, comparison between sonographic visualisation and tumour detection by palpation, histological tumour borders as well as postoperative complications. All lesions were reproduceable by intraoperative ultrasound and could be demonstrated in sufficient quality. None of the 19 parotid tumours could be identified by palpation pre- and intraoperatively. All tumour capsules remained intact, the tumours were completely removed and no postoperative complications were observed. Problems of ultrasound application may arise due to significantly altered anatomic landmarks while surgical preparation proceeds. Intraoperative ultrasound is fast, dynamic and feasible under sterile conditions. Especially in parotid surgery with small, non-palpable tumours, intraoperative ultrasound supports minimal-invasive surgery.