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K. Thomas Robbins, MD; Ilana Doweck, MD; Sandeep Samant, MS, FRCS; Francisco Vieira, MD

Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2005;131:965-969.

Objective  To determine the efficacy of selective and superselective neck dissection for patients with bulky or residual nodal metastasis treated with concomitant intra-arterial cisplatin and radiotherapy.

Design  Prospective study.

Setting  University of Tennessee, Memphis.

Patients  A total of 240 patients with stage III or IV head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Interventions  Treatment with cisplatin, 150 mg/m² intra-arterially, and sodium thiosulfate, 9 g/m² intravenously, weekly for 4 weeks; and radiotherapy, 2 Gy per fraction per day, 5 times weekly, for a total of 68 to 74 Gy over 6 to 7 weeks.

Main Outcome Measures  Regional control, distant metastases, and overall survival for patients undergoing radical or modified radical neck dissection (n = 12), selective neck dissection (n = 65), and superselective neck dissection (levels II-III only) (n = 7).

Results  Among the total group of 240 patients, 106 neck dissections were performed on 84 patients who had bulky nodal disease. With a median follow-up of 58 months (range, 12-96 months), regional failure occurred in 11 (4.6%) of 240 patients: 2 (17%) of the 12 who had modified radical neck dissection, 3 (5%) of the 65 who had selective neck dissection, none of the 7 patients who had superselective neck dissection, and 6 (4%) of the 156 who had no neck dissection. The rates of overall survival and distant metastases were not significantly different among the 3 neck dissection subsets.

Conclusion  Selective and superselective neck dissection, which spare function and minimize morbidity, are viable therapeutic alternatives for patients with residual disease confined to 1 level after intra-arterial chemoradiation treatment, and possibly for other chemoradiation protocols.

Author Affiliations: Division of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Springfield (Dr Robbins); Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, Carmel Medical Center, Haifa, Israel (Dr Doweck); and Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, University of Tennessee, Memphis (Drs Samant and Vieira).