title: Woody hardness - a novel classification for the radiotherapy-treated neck.
abstract: The term 'woody neck' is widely used by surgeons and oncologists to describe the fibrosis that can occur following radiotherapy for head and neck malignancy. These soft tissue and skin changes can be compounded by neck dissection, either before or after radiotherapy. To our knowledge, there is no classification published in the literature to describe the degree of woody hardness following treatment. We propose a simple ABC classification for varying degrees of indurated oedema and neck fibrosis secondary to radiotherapy or long-standing pathology, using the hardness of different woods to enable a suitable description to be made of severity.
authors.affiliation: Maxillofacial Department, Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth PO6 3LY, UK. Electronic address: serryth@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: S D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Colbert
authors.affiliation: Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, St Lukes Hospital, Bradford BD5 0NA.
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Mitchell
authors.affiliation: Maxillofacial Department, Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth PO6 3LY, UK.
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Brennan
mesh_terms: D004487:Edema / Q000145:classification / Q000473:pathology; D005355:Fibrosis; D006244:Hardness; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D009333:Neck / Q000473:pathology / Q000528:radiation effects*; D037981:Neck Dissection / Q000379:methods; D018583:Pliability; D011312:Pressure; D012867:Skin / Q000473:pathology / Q000528:radiation effects; D009626:Terminology as Topic; D014934:Wood / Q000145:classification
keywords: Firmness; Hardness; Neck; Neck dissection; Radiotherapy; Wood