Neck dissection and combined therapy. Study of effectiveness

Data on 1,385 neck dissections in 1,192 patients were studied to evaluate the effectiveness of treatment with operation alone and with various forms of combined therapy in controlling cervical metastasis. Of the 1,192 patients, 837 were treated by operation (neck dissection) alone, and the remainder had preoperative or postoperative radiation to the primary site and to the entire side of the neck that was dissected. In no stage of neck disease was either form of combined therapy superior to operation alone in decreasing the rates of recurrence. In an attempt to simulate a randomized, prospective study in a clinical situation for which the end results were already known, we used a separate statistical analysis--a case-control technique to specifically address the issue of the effectiveness of postoperative radiation in decreasing the frequency of recurrences after dissection in the various stages of disease. No evidence of a relationship between recurrence and the administration of planned postoperative radiation was found.