My brother was diagnosed with a warthin's tumor and needs surgery to remove it. what should we be concerned with in regards to this procedure?

Have surgery, go on.: It's also called: papillary cystadenoma lymphomatosum, and is 8x > in smokers, occurs in men and women and in 5% - 14% or cases, warthin's tumor is bilateral. Warthin's tumor is highly unlikely to become malignant. This is not to be confused with wharton's duct, which is the name for the submandibular duct. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/warthin%27s_tumor.

No nerve damage: Warthins tumor is a benign papillary cystadenoma of salivary gland. Lesion most common in parotid gland and must be removed by parotidectomy Here the gland is like a sandwich with the facial nerve in the center. The operation requires defining nerve and then lifting gland with tumor off. Same holds true for submax lesions where the ramus must be defined first or facial paralysis will occur.