Neck dissection: is it worthwhile?

Data on 1,048 neck dissections in 881 patients were studied to evaluate the effectiveness of treatment in controlling cervical metastasis. Of the 881 patients, 74.5% were treated by surgery alone, and most of the remainder had either planned preoperative or postoperative radiation to the primary site and the entire neck. Planned preoperative or postoperative radiation was defined as the delivery of 4,000 rads or more to the entire neck 123 days before (preoperative) or after (postoperative) neck dissection. In these groups, most patients received more than 5,000 rads. Ninety-six patients received preoperative radiation that did not satisfy these criteria and were grouped separately. The group with neck dissection alone had recurrence rates in the dissected side at 2 years of 7.5, 20.2, and 37.4%, respectively, for No, N1, and N2 staged necks. There were no differences in recurrence rates for the groups with radiated necks in the stage II (N2) necks compared with each other or with the group having surgery alone. Most recurrences, when they occurred in the neck, were manifest by 2 years. Mean follow-up in the entire study was 3.5 years. Two patients were lost to follow-up and were presumed to have died from cancer. When compared with pathologic staging, clinical staging was imprecise in one-third of the cases.