Abstract: Objective To study the application value of negative pressure drainage in combination with regional elastic compression dressing in parotid gland operation, and to explore the factors related to salivary fistula after parotidectomy. Method 200 cases of patients with benign parotid tumors who needed operation treatment were randomly divided into 2 groups: 100 cases were treated with negative pressure drainage combined with regional elastic compression dressing in the parotid gland area, and 100 cases were treated with traditional bandage. The incidence of postoperative salivary fistula, and the possible factors leading to salivary fistula during and after the operation were analyzed. Statistical analysis was made by SPSS16.0 software package. Results The incident of salivary fistula in the group using negative pressure drainage combined with regional elastic compression dressing (2%) was significantly lower than that in the group using traditional bandage (12%), and salivary fistula could even be prevented in the former group. The difference between the two groups was significant (P<0.05). Conclusion The negative pressure drainage combined with regional elastic compression dressing is obviously better than the traditional bandage in preventing salivary fistula after parotidectomy. With less dressing time and a beautiful appearance, this method is also comfortable for the patients, which does not affect their eating, speaking and hearing, and makes no compression pain in the head and face. With good clinical application value, negative pressure drainage combined with regional elastic compression dressing is worthy of popularization.

Key words: Parotid operation, negative pressure drainage, bandaging method, salivary fistula