Second radical neck dissection

We report a series of 96 patients (62 men and 34 women) undergoing a second radical neck dissection for enlarged contralateral cervical nodes after primary treatment of a squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, including an ipsilateral radical neck dissection. The proportion of patients requiring a second later neck dissection varied from 0% for tumours of the nasopharynx, nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses, to 5% for tumours of the hypopharynx. The incidence of second neck dissection was not determined by the original T stage of the primary tumour, but patients with enlarged nodes at presentation were 5 times more likely to need a second neck dissection than those with no palpable nodes at presentation. Also, patients with a poorly differentiated tumour were twice as likely to need a second neck dissection as those with a well differentiated tumour. The overall 5-year survival after second neck dissection was 35% and the perioperative mortality 1.92%. Significant factors predicting survival after a second neck dissection were the time to recurrence, the clinical neck node status at recurrence, the number of histologically invaded nodes in the neck and the presence of extra-nodal disease.