Sternocleidomastoid muscle interposition to prevent carotid artery blowout.

Carotid blow-out syndrome is the most dreaded complication in head and neck surgical oncology practice This article describes a simple technique of interposition of sternocleidomastoid muscle between pharynx and carotid sheath to isolate the latter from salivary contamination in the event of salivary leak. Authors have used this technique in 83 laryngectomies with excellent results. (c) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.