The importance of tumor attachment to the carotid artery.
The records of 508 patients who had undergone radical neck dissection were reviewed. Twenty-eight of these patients (5.5%) were found to have tumor attached to the carotide arterial system. Twenty-four patients (86%) died with tumor, the mean survival time being 16.9 months. Local recurrence of tumor in the neck occurred in 46% of the patients and distant metastases in 67%. Eighteen percent of those who developed local recurrence did so in the absence of distant metastases and might have benefited from a more aggressive approach toward the tumor.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002339:Carotid Arteries / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local