Otolaryngology at Hospital General de Fuerteventura Performs First Ever Parotidectomy
The Otolaryngology (ENT) service at Hospital General de Fuerteventura, part of the Ministry of Health of the Canary Islands Government, has successfully performed a partial superficial parotidectomy for the first time. This surgical procedure involves the partial removal of the parotid gland, the largest of the salivary glands, located in the lateral facial region beneath the ear.
According to the regional Ministry of Health, this procedure was recently carried out on a 69-year-old patient with a benign tumour in the superficial lobe of the gland, from which he “has recovered favourably.”
Following the surgery, the patient was discharged after three days in line with standard protocols, with full facial mobility.
Notably, one of the main challenges of this type of surgery is that the parotid gland is crossed by the facial nerve, which controls facial muscle movement; injury to this nerve can lead to irreversible facial paralysis.
To minimise this risk, the hospital employs an intraoperative neuromonitoring device, which provides real-time information about the activity of the facial nerve and its branches, facilitating their identification and preservation during surgery, thus enhancing procedural safety.
Thanks to this technology, the surgical team—comprising specialists Silvia Martín, Ana Belén Vadillo, and Jelinek Falcón from the ENT department—was able to locate the nerve’s pathway and its branches “with greater precision,” reducing the risk of injury during the surgery.
The introduction of this neuromonitoring equipment over a year ago represents “a fundamental support” not only for parotid gland surgeries but also for cervical and otological procedures, allowing for safer excisions of both benign and malignant pathologies.
Diagnosis, Treatment, and Surgery
The Otolaryngology service is responsible for the diagnosis and medical and surgical treatment of diseases affecting the ear, nose, throat, and related structures of the head and neck.
At Hospital General de Fuerteventura, the service has experienced “steady growth” in recent years, both in human resources and in healthcare capacity, enabling the incorporation of increasingly complex procedures and reducing the need for referrals to specialist centres outside the island.
The team currently consists of 15 professionals, including seven ENT specialists, three nurses, three nursing auxiliary technicians, one orderly, and two administrative assistants.
The service attended to 10,343 patients in 2025, performing 672 surgical interventions, particularly those related to the upper aerodigestive tract, for both paediatric and adult populations.
For paediatric patients, notable interventions included surgeries for childhood sleep apnea, involving tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy for children with breathing difficulties during sleep, as well as surgeries for otological conditions and their sequelae.
In adults, common procedures include functional nasal surgeries such as septoplasty, rhinoseptoplasty, and turbinate surgery, aimed at correcting alterations in the nasal pyramid and septum, as well as enlarging the turbinates to enhance breathing.
Lastly, in collaboration with the Ophthalmology service, the department has conducted tear sac surgeries for the past five years, addressing a highly prevalent and increasing condition.
Moreover, in the last five years, and in coordination with the Pulmonology service, a wide range of interventions has been introduced to treat obstructive sleep apnea in adults, achieving excellent results and providing alternatives to usual conservative treatments. In the realm of head and neck, the service addresses cervical pathologies, and subsequent to this intervention, the treatment of benign parotid gland tumours.
