Benign Cystic Teratoma of the Parotid Gland

Methods: This is the sixth reported case of a benign parotid teratoid tumor. A fourteen-year-old boy presented with a slowly enlarging left preauricular mass over a six month period. On exam he had a mobile cystic parotid mass just anterior to his left tragus with an associated small preauricular pit. His facial nerve was intact. MRI demonstrated high uptake on T1 but low signal on T2 weighted images with heterogeneous signals. Differential diagnosis included first branchial cleft cyst, angiolipoma or dermoid cyst. The patient underwent a superficial parotidectomy with excision of the parotid mass and the involved external ear canal cartilage.