title: Selective neck dissection (I-III) for node negative and node positive necks.
abstract: Selective neck dissection (I-III) for oral cancers offers similar regional control rates with less morbidity as compared with modified radical neck dissection. Charts of 414 patients with oral cancer, who underwent selective neck dissection (I-III) during 1994-2001, were analysed retrospectively. Seventy nine percent of the patients had a primary tumour in the gingivo-buccal complex. Cancer of tongue showed a trend towards higher regional failure (12.3%) as compared to gingivo-buccal cancers (6.5%). Primary tumour was staged as T1-8%, T2-47%, T3-19% and T4-26%. Sixty five percent of the patients were clinically node negative. Isolated neck failure was observed in 4.8% of patients at 2 years and in 5.8% at 5 years. De-differentiation of primary tumour and perineural spread were associated with regional failures. Eighty three percent of the neck recurrences were in the ipsilateral neck and only 16% of these were at levels IV or V. In all, 30% of all regional failures were outside the field of dissection.
authors.affiliation: Head and Neck Service, Department of Surgery, Tata Memorial Hospital, Dr. E. Borges Road, Parel, Mumbai 400 012, India. kapathak@rediffmail.com
authors.forename: Kumar Alok
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Pathak
authors.forename: Ashok K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Das
authors.forename: Ritu
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Agarwal
authors.forename: Sanjay
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Talole
authors.forename: Mandar S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Deshpande
authors.forename: Pankaj
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chaturvedi
authors.forename: Prathamesh S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Pai
authors.forename: Devendra A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Chaukar
authors.forename: Anil K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: D'Cruz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D037981:Neck Dissection / Q000379:methods*; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D016879:Salvage Therapy; D014062:Tongue Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D017211:Treatment Failure; D016896:Treatment Outcome