ORIGINAL ARTICLE A Simple Method for Safe Identification of the Facial Nerve Using Palpable Landmarks Jose´ A. Pereira, MD; Alex Merı´, PhD; Jose´ Marı´a Potau, MD; Alberto Prats-Galino, MD; Joan Jose´ Sancho, MD; Antonio Sitges-Serra, MD Hypothesis: External palpable landmarks can be used Main Outcome Measures: The time taken from the to identify the facial nerve trunk quickly and safely. skin incision to the identification of the nerve was moni- tored with a chronometer by an independent observer. Design: Prospective anatomical dissection study. The distance between the predicted and actual position of the facial nerve was measured. Setting: University department of human anatomy and university hospital. Results: In all cases, the facial nerve was identified and there were no significant differences in the dissection time Methods: A total of 40 human cadaver heads (79 facial between the 2 prosectors (144 vs 148 seconds). The mean nerves) were dissected by 2 prosectors, a surgeon with distance between the predicted and the actual position experience in the anatomy of the parotid region (J.A.P.; of the nerve was 1.42 mm. n=39) and a medical student with experience in ana- tomical dissection and basic knowledge of the facial nerve Conclusion: The proposed localization landmarks al- disposition (A.M.; n=40). A 3-cm skin incision was made lowed a fast and safe identification of the facial nerve and in the center of the triangle formed by the temporoman- may be of significant help during surgery around the pa- dibular joint, the mastoid process, and the angle of the rotid region. mandible, and dissection was continued deep until the main facial nerve trunk was identified. Arch Surg. 2004;139:745-747 EASONABLE SPEED AND may result in major changes of the nor- safety in identifying and mal anatomy of the key structures to be preserving important ana- dissected. For this reason, the anatomi- tomical structures are of vi- cal landmarks guiding the surgeon tal importance for success- throughout any intervention must meet the Rful surgery in all specialties. In some following characteristics: (1) easy to iden- circumstances, such as thyroidectomy or tify, (2) keep their position throughout the parotidectomy, the final success of the op- whole procedure, (3) be easily palpable in- eration depends to a vast extent on the safe dependent of the position of the patient, handling of the recurrent laryngeal or fa- and (4) allow the speedy and safe identi- cial nerves. fication of the anatomical structure to be preserved. See Invited Critique The identification of the facial nerve at end of article in the parotid region—be it during pa- From the Departament de rotidectomy or for repair of facial trauma—is Cie`ncies Experimentals i de la In the absence of preoperative meth- a paradigmatic procedure. Both the main Salut, Universitat Pompeu ods allowing the precise location of rel- trunk and peripheral branches must be iden- Fabra (Drs Pereira and Merı´), evant anatomical structures, surgeons re- tified and preserved to prevent permanent the Departament d’Anatomia i quire a system of references that enable aesthetic sequelae and medico-legal ac- Embriologia Humana, Facultat them to predict with safe margins the lo- tions related to facial paralysis. de Medicina, Universitat de cation of the anatomical structure to be Several methods have been devised Barcelona (Drs Potau and preserved. This system of references can for the identification of the facial nerve Prats-Galino), and the 1 2-4 Departament de Cirurgia, only be based on anatomical landmarks. trunk during parotidectomy, even to pre- Hospital del Mar (Drs Sancho Topographical alterations caused by the dict the disposition of its branches preop- and Sitges-Serra); underlying surgical disease or related to eratively.5-7 The most frequently used ref- Barcelona, Spain. the normal variations among individuals erences for its intraoperative localization (REPRINTED) ARCH SURG/ VOL 139, JULY 2004 WWW.ARCHSURG.COM 745 ©2004 American Medical Association. All rights reserved. Downloaded From: https://jamanetwork.com/ on 09/30/2021 perpendicularly inserted hypodermic needle (0.8ϫ40 mm; Mi- crolance 3; Becton Dickinson, Madrid, Spain). All references were chosen by means of palpation and not by objective mea- surements. Finally, the third step was to make a longitudinal incision of 3 cm at the guiding needle position without remov- ing it. The dorsal border of the parotid gland was retracted an- teriorly or the dissection progressed across the gland when- ever necessary, with blunt dissection using a Reynolds-type scissors (model 08.325.15; Dimeda, Rhineland, Germany) fol- lowing the needle until the trunk of the facial nerve was lo- cated. Once identified, the facial nerve was dissected until its trunk and its major 2 branches were individualized. At this point, the distance between the theoretical and the actual position of the facial nerve trunk was registered. Measurements were made at the end of the procedure by each prosector using a caliper. Calculation of the reference tri- angle area was done on a computer using the Heron formula, which uses the length of each side of the triangle. The whole dissection process, from the skin incision un- til the identification of the trunk and the 2 divisions of the fa- cial nerve, was monitored with a chronometer by an indepen- dent observer. At the end of the procedure, the correct location of the nerve was double-checked by enlarging the incision to con- firm the position of the nerve and the integrity of its branches. Results were statistically analyzed with the Statview 4 pack- age (SAS Institute Inc, Cary, NC). The unpaired, 2-tailed t test Drawing showing the anatomical landmarks, the reference triangle, and the was used to compare quantitative variables with normal dis- location of the facial nerve. tribution between the 2 prosectors. Statistical significance was established at PϽ.05. are the retromandibular vein,8 the tympanomastoid fis- 9-11 9 sure, the tragal pointer, and the styloid process of the RESULTS temporal bone.12 The most used anatomical landmark is the tympanomastoid fissure since it has shown its effi- The 79 facial nerves were uneventfully dissected and pre- cacy as a reference in comparison with other techniques served. Neither the major trunk nor its division were dam- allowing the identification of the facial nerve with a pre- aged during the procedure. The results of the measure- cision within the 3-mm range.11 ments are presented in Table 1. Both prosectors safely The present study set out to investigate the ease and identified the facial nerve in fewer than 3 minutes with accuracy of facial nerve identification using the center of no significant differences in the duration of the proce- the triangle formed by the temporomandibular joint, the dure between the 2. Neither were there major differ- mastoid process, and the angle of the mandible as the ana- ences in the distance between the predicted and the ac- tomical landmark (Figure). These reference points were tual localization site. The dimensions (side length and chosen because they meet the 3 aforementioned requisites. area) of the reference triangle drawn by the 2 prosectors were similar with only the anterior side showing some METHODS (4 mm) difference. A total of 40 human cadaver heads either fresh (n=15) or pre- There were no significant differences in the time to served in formaldehyde (n=25) were dissected (17 male and identify the nerve nor in the distance between the theo- 23 female with a mean age of 80 years). Heads were sectioned retical and actual nerve localization between male and sagittally and dissected by 2 investigators, a surgeon with ex- female specimens. As expected, the dimensions (sides and perience in the parotid region (J.A.P.; n=39) and a medical stu- area) of the reference triangle were higher in male speci- dent with experience in anatomical dissection and basic ana- mens (Table 2). tomical knowledge of the facial nerve anatomy (A.M.; n=40). A total of 79 dissections were performed. One specimen could not be used because of previous mandibular resection and ra- COMMENT diotherapy because of an oral cancer. The approach to the trunk of the facial nerve involves 3 The anatomical triangle proposed in this study is a modi- steps. First, the 3 anatomical landmarks were identified by pal- fication of that described in textbooks of surgical pation and marked with color needles. The first point was at anatomy.1,13,14 There are no references, however, about the center of the temporomandibular joint. From that point, a the usefulness and effect of the use of these landmarks line was traced crossing the center of the external acoustic me- in current surgical practice. In our opinion, the adop- atus until it reached the posterior border of the mastoid pro- cess where the second point was marked. The third landmark tion of this type of anatomical orientation could make was placed at the vertex of the mandible angle (Figure) and surgery around the parotid region safer and quicker. the reference triangle was delineated. Our approach offers substantial advantages when The second step involved marking the predicted position compared with other methods. It predicts nerve posi- of the facial nerve at the center of the reference triangle with a tion accurately; the 3 anatomical landmarks are easy to (REPRINTED) ARCH SURG/ VOL 139, JULY 2004 WWW.ARCHSURG.COM 746 ©2004 American Medical Association. All rights reserved. Downloaded From: https://jamanetwork.com/ on 09/30/2021 Table 1. Results of Dissections Performed by Each Prosector* Triangle Mean Dimensions, cm Prosector Time, s Distance, mm Area, cm2 Height, cm Superior Side Posterior Side Anterior Side 1 144 (67) 1.62 (1.10) 12.20 (2.07) 4.43 (0.37) 5.10 (0.46) 5.50 (0.64) 5.40 (0.48) 2 148 (74) 1.21 (0.89) 11.60 (2.40) 4.36 (0.62) 5.20 (0.50) 5.30 (0.64) 5.00 (0.80)† Average 146 (71) 1.42 (1.04) 11.90 (2.20) 4.40 (0.51) 5.10 (0.48) 5.40 (0.64) 5.20 (0.68) *Values are expressed as mean (SD).