European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology : official journal of the European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology - Head and Neck Surgery
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With the exception of distant metastases, the presence of lymph node metastasis in the neck is accepted as the single most important adverse independent prognostic factor and an indicator of survival in squamous carcinoma of the head and neck. Neck dissection in its various forms is the standard surgical treatment for clinical, subclinical and subpathologic metastatic cancer to the neck. The pertinent literature from the beginning of the nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth century was reviewed. ⋯ The greatest impetus to the status of this surgical procedure came from Martin and colleagues, who published a monumental report in 1951 of 1,450 cases that established the place and technique of radical neck dissection in the modern treatment of head and neck cancer. Neck dissection, for treatment of cervical lymph node metastases in head and neck cancer, was conceived and attempted in the nineteenth century, with some limited success reported by the end of that era. An effective operation was described and reported in the early twentieth century and evolved by the mid century into a fundamental tool in the management of patients with head and neck cancer.