Modern therapeutic options for Frey syndrome – analysis of five cases

Introduction: Frey‘s syndrome (SF), auriculotemporal syndrome, is an often neglected complication occurring in 6–96% of patients after parotid gland surgery according to recent studies. It arises on the basis of aberrant ingrowth of parasympathetic fi bers into the sheaths of denervated sweat glands after auriculotemporal nerve damage. The syndrome is characterized by a triad of symptoms: sweating, redness and burning or even pain in connection with food intake. Diagnosing these problems is not a time-consuming process and there are a number of therapeutic options. However, the vast majority of approaches, whether surgical or non-surgical, have only a short-term effect and carry a number of complications. The application of botulinum toxin A (BTXA) represents a relatively simple, effective and safe treatment option consisting of intradermal application of the solution according to a predetermined Frey syndrome activation map. Objectives: Presentation and evaluation of pilot results of therapeutic application of BTXA in patients dia gnosed with Frey‘s syndrome. Material and methods: Retrospective analysis of a group of 5 patients who underwent parotid gland surgery of various extents at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, University Hospital at St. Anny in Brno between 2006 and 2019, in whom there was a signifi cant manifestation of SF symptoms on the basis of which BTXA was therapeutically applied. Results: Evaluating the subjective manifestations of SF in all patients in our cohort, after the application of BTXA, showed that the problems signifi cantly decreased from “annoying and reducing their quality of life” to “never” or “almost never” occurring. Objective results of the Minor test interpreted by SketchAndCalc showed a decrease in SF activation of 91.6% on average. Only two patients required re-administration of BTXA at 6 and 19 months intervals. No adverse reactions to BTXA were reported or observed with any of the patients. Conclusion: BTXA is an eff ective and safe way to treat patients with Frey‘s syndrome. Keywords: parotidectomy – Frey syndrome – auriculotemporal syndrome – gustatory sweating – botulinum A toxin