title: Elective lateral neck dissection for laryngeal cancer in the clinically negative neck.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Despite the introduction of modern imaging techniques, it is still difficult to detect microscopic disease in neck nodes. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of the lateral neck dissection (LND) for elective treatment of the clinically node negative neck (cN0) in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC).
  
  
  METHODS
  The clinical records of 110 cN0 patients with laryngeal SCC treated in this hospital from January 1997 to December 2002 were reviewed retrospectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One hundred ten patients received 145 elective LND. Occult metastasis was detected in 22 (20.0%) of this group of patients. The distribution of the 37 positive nodes was as follows: Level II 56.8%; Level III 37.8%; Level IV 5.4%. The 3-year neck recurrence rate estimated by the Kaplan-Meier approach for all cN0 patients (n = 110) was 5.4% [95% CI: 0.0%; 12.5%]. No significant difference in 3-year lymph node recurrence was found between node negative and node positive groups, between supraglottis and glottis groups, or between surgery alone and combined therapy groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The lateral neck dissection is effective in elective treatment of the neck in patients with laryngeal carcinoma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Head and Neck Surgery Cancer Hospital (Institute), Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, PR China. docbinzhang@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Zhen-Gang
authors.initials: ZG
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Ping-Zhang
authors.initials: PZ
authors.lastname: Tang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000401:mortality / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000556:secondary / Q000601:surgery*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D017558:Elective Surgical Procedures; D005260:Female; D005931:Glottis; D006801:Humans; D007822:Laryngeal Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000601:surgery*; D007825:Laryngectomy / Q000379:methods; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology*; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009333:Neck; D037981:Neck Dissection / Q000379:methods; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate