Abstract: PURPOSE: To explore the advantages of digital surgical guide-assisted parotidectomy for parotid tumors compared with traditional parotidectomy. METHODS: A total of 20 patients with parotid tumors admitted to Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital from January 2023 to December 2024 were included. Among them, the experimental group (n=10) underwent preoperative design of a digital surgical guide, 3D printing of the guide, and parotidectomy guided by the device. The control group (n=10) received parotidectomy via the traditional modified Blair incision. Perioperative related indicators, postoperative complications, and incision aesthetics during postoperative follow-up were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: The intraoperative bleeding volume of the experimental group was significantly less than that of the control group (P=0.004), the postoperative drainage volume of the experimental group was significantly less than that of the control group (P=0.007), and the incision aesthetics of the experimental group during postoperative follow-up were significantly superior to those of the control group (P=0.015). No significant differences were observed in other indicators between the two groups (P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Compared with traditional empirical surgery, digital surgical guide-assisted parotidectomy for parotid tumors is more precise, resulting in more aesthetically pleasing incisions, and satisfactory clinical outcomes.

Key words: Parotid tumor, Digital design, Empirical surgery, Precision surgery