Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 15, 2026
Modified Radical Neck Dissection for Cervical Metastasis
Published on: February 20, 2026
Elective neck dissection vs observation in transorally treated early head and neck carcinomas with cN0 neck
Georgios Psychogios1, Konstantinos Mantsopoulos, Michael Koch
1Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Friedrich Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany. Georgios.Psychogios@uk-erlangen.de
Conclusion:
This study showed that elective neck dissection (ND) resulted in reduced regional recurrences in a selected group of surgically treated patients with pT1-2 carcinomas but did not show any benefit for disease-specific survival (DSS). Furthermore, the importance of pN classification was also verified for this patient group.
Objectives:
The aim of this study was to determine whether the use of elective ND in patients with early head and neck carcinomas and cN0 neck that have undergone a transoral removal of the primary tumor can reduce the incidence of regional recurrence and improve survival.
Methods:
Between 1980 and 2010, 224 patients that underwent transoral resection of a pT1-2 carcinoma and had a cN0 neck were included in the study; 101 patients received an elective ND and 123 did not.
Results:
The group that underwent elective ND showed a tendency toward better regional control (RC) (96.0% vs 90.3%, p = 0.07) but similar DSS (85.7% vs 85.4%, p = 0.984). Cases with pN0 classification had a better overall survival (74.6% vs 46.9%, p = 0.07), DSS (88.4% vs 53.6%, p = 0.44), and RC (98.6% vs 62.5%, p < 0.001) compared with pN+ patients.
