Short hospital stay after neck dissection.
OBJECTIVE
Cervical lymphadenectomy is a common adjunctive therapy for the treatment of head and neck malignancies. Postoperative care of otherwise healthy patients with isolated neck dissection or in combination with other procedures often requires limited nursing attention after the first postoperative day. At our institution, patients are often taught to manage their drains and discharged home. Therefore, we sought to characterize the subset of patients who will require only overnight hospital care after neck dissection.


METHODS
We retrospectively reviewed our experience in a tertiary academic medical center over the past 6 years with patients who underwent neck dissection, isolated or with other procedures, and were sent home by postoperative day 1.


RESULTS
In all, 23 of 260 patients were identified (8.8%). Two patients were noted to have postoperative seromas, with no other complications noted.


CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that short hospital stay after neck dissection is reasonable for the motivated patient without significant comorbidities.


CONCLUSIONS
This is the first study to examine the feasibility of short hospital stay after neck dissection.


METHODS
C.
Ha
Patrick K
PK
Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD 21287-0910, USA.
Couch
Marion E
ME
Tufano
Ralph P
RP
Koch
Wayne M
WM
Califano
Joseph A
JA
D000046:Academic Medical Centers; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000639:trends*; D008197:Lymph Node Excision / Q000379:methods; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D037981:Neck Dissection / Q000379:methods*; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity