A 63 year old woman with no previous history of importance consulted for a mass of soft consistency measuring 3 cm in diameter in the left parotid region with a history of 4 months, accompanied by peripheral paralysis of the cervical branch of the facial nerve with deviation of the homolateral labial commissure. The tumour, mobile and painless, was easily revealed by bimanual palpation and was predominantly intraoral. The patient had no significant palpable lymph nodes in the neck and the rest of the physical examination was unremarkable.
Consultation with neurology ruled out the possibility of central facial palsy by means of a CT scan of the brain.
Soft tissue ultrasound was reported as a solid heterogeneous mass with soft tissue density in the parotid region and no adenomegalic rank nodes in the neck.
Fine needle aspiration puncture under ultrasound control was reported as negative with haematic material on 2 occasions. It was then decided to perform a freezing biopsy under general anaesthesia with an intraoral approach whereby the tumour was accessible and protruded under the oral mucosa next to the ostium of the Stenon's duct.
After incising the mucosa, a lax, wine-red tumour with a vascular appearance was found, which was removed without difficulty through the same incision, and its continuity with the parotid tissue of normal characteristics was verified. Freeze biopsy revealed a lesion compatible with a benign vascular tumour. The mucosa was closed with separate stitches of polyglycolic acid and the procedure was terminated. The evolution was favourable with hospital discharge at 24 h and complete recovery of facial paralysis at 10 d postoperatively. There is no evidence of disease after 5 years of follow-up. The deferred histological report was parotid capillary haemangioma....