title: Can patients with head and neck cancers invading carotid artery gain survival benefit from surgery?
abstract: CONCLUSIONS
  Surgical treatment of carotid invasion may give an improved 2-year survival in selected patients without significant morbidity.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate survival outcomes in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinomas invading the carotid artery.
  
  
  METHODS
  At the time of carotid invasion, 23 patients underwent surgery (n=11), chemoradiotherapy (n=6), or palliation (n=6). Surgical methods included carotid resection and ligation (n=5), carotid resection and reconstruction with saphenous vein (n=4), and peeling (n=2). Survival outcomes among different treatments were compared.
  
  
  RESULTS
  None of the 11 surgical patients experienced perioperative mortality or major neurologic complications. Three of these patients survived, but two had recurrent disease at last follow-up; their 2-year overall survival and disease-free survival rates were 24.5% and 18.2%, respectively. In contrast, all patients treated with chemoradiation or palliation died within 15 months. Median survival time was 16.5 months in the surgery group, 11.5 months in the chemoradiation group, and 3 months in the palliation group (p=0.025).
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Jong-Lyel
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Roh
authors.forename: Mi Ra
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Seung-Ho
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Jeong Hyun
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Kyung-Ja
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Soon Yuhl
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Nam
authors.forename: Sang Yoon
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D002339:Carotid Arteries / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010166:Palliative Care; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate