Introduction
Use of fibrin sealants (FS) has been shown to reduce post-operative secretion and length of hospital stay (LOS) in different types of head and neck surgeries, mostly thyroidectomies, but also parotidectomies and neck dissections [1,2,3,4,5, 6, 7].
While FS use in thyroid surgery is well established, with several randomized controlled trials and meta analyses suggesting improvement in the post-operative course [1,8], data on the outcome of FS-based drainless parotid surgeries remains limited [3,4, 5, 9,10]. Previous reports on FS-based drainless parotidectomies have shown improved outcomes compared with the traditional approach of drain insertion, resulting in shorter LOS and reduced post-operative seroma rates [4,5]. Despite the encouraging results in published data, the vast majority of parotid surgeons would still insert a drain in virtually all of their patients. Possible explanations for this are concerns regarding secretion of saliva from the remaining parotid tissue as well as the potential dead space. Therefore, additional studies on the outcome of FS use in parotid surgery are still needed in order to consider drainless parotidectomy with FS as the standard of care.
FS contain fibrinogen and thrombin frozen solutions. These components act to form a clot which adheres to the wound surface and seals small blood vessel.
The aim of this matched case-control study was to evaluate the impact of drainless parotidectomy using FS on LOS, post-operative seroma and related complications in a consecutive group of patients who underwent parotidectomies in our department.