RECENT APPROACHES OF NECK DISSECTION FOR HEAD AND NECK CANCER

Abstract

Neck dissection plays an important role in the management of head and neck cancer, as the cancer cells migrate through the lymphatics to the lymph nodes on both sides of the neck. Over the decades the surgical intervention of neck dissection improved and adjusted for the purpose of improving the postoperative patient life quality in the form of decreasing postoperative morbidity and mortality. For many years, radical neck dissection was the golden surgical intervention for neck dissection, but with improvement of investigations and early diagnosis of tumors, selective neck dissection became the surgical intervention of choice of neck dissection.

Key words ● Lymph nodes ● Neck dissection ● Vessels ● Level ● Tumor