Postoperative radiation for squamous cell carcinoma metastatic to cervical lymph nodes from an unknown primary site: Outcomes and patterns of failure

✍ Scribed by Philip J. Colletier; Adam S. Garden; William H. Morrison; Helmuth Goepfert; Fady Geara; K. Kian Ang

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 101 KB
• Volume: 20
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1043-3074
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0347(199812)20:8<674::aid-hed3>3.0.co;2-h

✦ Synopsis

Background: This retrospective study assesses the outcomes and patterns of failure in patients with squamous cell carcinoma metastatic to cervical lymph nodes from an unknown primary site treated with combined surgery and postoperative radiotherapy.

Methods: One hundred thirty-six patients with squamous cell carcinoma metastatic to cervical lymph nodes from an unknown primary source were treated postoperatively with radiotherapy at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center between the years 1968 and 1992. Stage distribution was: N1, 31 patients; N2a, 49; N2b, 25; N2c, 3; N3, 18; and Nx, 10. Thirty-nine patients had excisional biopsies only, 64 patients underwent modified neck dissections, and 33 had radical neck dissections. Extracapsular extension was present in 87 cases. Fifty-nine patients had multiple nodes involved. The median duration of follow-up for surviving patients was 8.7 years.

Results: Twelve patients, all with extracapsular nodal disease, developed regional relapse. The 5-year actuarial rates of