Evolution of elective neck dissection in N0 laryngeal cancer

Management of cervical lymph node metastasis is one of the most challenging problems facing clinicians dealing with head and neck cancer. A retrospective evaluation has been made of results in N0 laryngeal cancer patients treated from 1978 to date by comparing historical data reported in related papers previously published by our institution. The medical records of 2207 consecutive patients with cN0 SCC of the larynx were used as the source of data in the present study. Together with primary treatment, 759 (34.4%) received at least unilateral elective neck dissection, while the remaining 1448 (65.6%) were admitted to a wait-and-see protocol. Overall, in the electively dissected patients (ED): 128 (16.9%) cases were submitted to classical radical neck dissection, while 403 (53.1%) cases were submitted to functional neck dissection (FND) and 228 (30.0%) cases to jugular node dissection (JND, removing Level II, III and IV). In 125 of the ED group, a neck procedure on the contralateral N0 neck was associated, of which 15 were RNDs, 35 FNDs and 75 JNDs, respectively. Based on this large series population, the change in the philosophy was evaluated concerning elective neck treatment in N0 laryngeal cancer, from RND through FND towards JND. As far as concerns the reliability as a staging procedure, no statistically significant difference was found between RND, FND and JND (p = 0.794). The 5-year neck recurrence rate, as estimated by the Kaplan Meier, method, for all ED patients, was 7.7%. No significant difference in the rate of 5-year neck recurrence was detected between RND, FND and JND groups (p = 0.178). In the survival curves, no differences, in terms of actuarial survival by Kaplan Meier analysis, were observed, in our series, as far as concerns type of elective neck dissection performed (p = 0.222). In conclusion, following a critical revision of 25 years' experience, at our Institution, in the management of cN0 necks in laryngeal cancer patients, definitive changes were observed in the surgical approach to the treatment of occult disease in cN0 cases. JND, compared to more extensive neck dissections, did not show statistically significant differences in terms of neck control (p = 0.233), in terms of impact on survival (p = 0.122) and in terms of accuracy as staging procedure (p = 0.794).