Surgical Approaches and Operative Techniques for Cervical Lymph Node Pathology

Management of the neck lymph nodes is an integral part in the therapeutic approach of head and neck cancer. Within this context, neck dissection entails the removal of nodal levels contained in the cervical soft and fat tissue. Extent of surgery depends on several factors, including the site and stage of primary tumor and clinically metastatic involvement of neck lymph nodes. Levels at risk are systematically removed while preserving or when indicated selectively resecting the muscular, vascular and nervous structures of the neck. In this chapter, we discuss the surgical approach to the neck lymph nodes in the frame of head and neck cancer treatment and we review the main complications of neck dissection.