Abstracts in head & neck surgery

• Book ID: 102849079
• Publisher: Wiley (John Wiley & Sons)
• Year: 1985
• Weight: 505 KB
• Volume: 7
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0148-6403
• DOI: 10.1002/hed.2890070312

✦ Synopsis

The authors review their neck dissections for head and neck cancer performed between 1961 and 1982. A total of 1,500 functional neck dissections were performed on 843 patients. Eighty percent of these were performed in the absence of clinical metastases, and in 77%, bilateral, functional neck dissection was performed. The authors then describe their criteria for functional neck dissection, the rationale of the operation and contraindications. They then compared the outcome in their patients to a previous series performed in the same institution in which conventional, radical neck dissection was used. Although the article gives a good description and review of the literature of functional neck dissection, it contains several flaws. By comparing two series separated in time, statistical analysis of results becomes valid. Second, although the authors look at the difference in results in N1 and N2 versus N 3 cases, we have no data regarding the T classification of the original tumor. The indications for neck dissection used by the authors have apparently been extended significantly as have the indications for bilateral versus unilateral neck dissections. There is no doubt that the concept of a functional neck dissection has been an important contribution to the treatment of cancer of the head and neck. The authors' conclusions, however, cannot be borne out by the data presented.