title: [Surgery for tumors of the root of neck].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the clinical value of the surgery for tumors located in the root of the neck.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective study was made on 15 cases with tumors in the root of the neck. Seven patients had benign and 8 had malignant tumors. In the malignant group, 4 staged III and 4 staged IV. Patients with benign disease were followed up for more than 3 years, and patients with malignant tumors were followed up from 1 to 5 years (median 2 years).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Resection via "L" incision in the root of the neck was employed in 13 cases (7 benign and 6 malignant, clavicle splitting in 1 case) and sternotomy in 2 cases. Only one case in the benign group had complication (chylous leakage). In contrast, 7 complications (2 subclavian vein tearing, 2 brachial plexus injury, 2 chylous leakage and 1 pneumothorax) occurred in 6 patients in the malignant group. The incidence of complication was significantly different between the two groups (P < 0.05). We observed no recurrence in both groups during the period of follow-up.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study showed that surgery of tumors located in the root of the neck is effective, although the incidence of surgical complication is high for the malignant ones.
authors.affiliation: Department of Head and Neck Surgery, Sichuan Cancer Hospital, Chengdu 610041, China.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ren
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007431:Intraoperative Complications; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009333:Neck / Q000601:surgery; D037981:Neck Dissection / Q000379:methods; D012189:Retrospective Studies