Carotid artery resection and reconstruction in patients with squamous cell carcinomas of the neck

The authors performed a retrospective review of their 10-year experience of carotid artery resection with vascular reconstruction for advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the neck. From 1986 to 1997, four patients underwent elective and one patient acute carotid artery resection with revascularization at the Department of Otolaryngology, Albert Szent-Györgyi Medical University, Szeged, Hungary. Primary lesions were three laryngeal and two hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas. All five resected specimens had metastatic invasion by tumor of the carotid adventitia on pathological examination, while only four specimens exhibited tumorous destruction of the arterial wall. No cerebrovascular accident occurred in any patient, although one patient died postoperatively from cardiac failure. The four remaining patients died of local-regional recurrences or metastatic disease within 17 months after their carotid artery resections. Our findings show that carotid artery resection with replacement is superior to ligation alone in avoiding neurological complications. This approach can provide local control of tumor, but may fail to achieve significant disease-free survival.