The role of modified neck dissection in the treatment of cutaneous melanoma of the head and neck.
One hundred eighty-one patients were treated with a modified neck dissection for suspected or proved metastatic melanoma during a ten-year period. The overall failure rate in the neck was 16%. Eighty-three percent of the patients with neck recurrence died of disseminated disease. A modified neck dissection that preserves important functional and cosmetic structures but does not compromise cancer control seemed to be appropriate treatment for actual or suspected melanoma metastatic to cervical nodes.
D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D037981:Neck Dissection / Q000379:methods*; D012189:Retrospective Studies