The Role of Computed Tomographic Scans in the Management of the N-Positive Neck in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma After Chemoradiotherapy

Abstract

While the role of the posttreatment neck dissection remains controversial, the surgeon must rely on clinical examination and imaging studies. Our practice has been to perform planned staged neck dissections on all N2/N3 necks as well as N1 necks with an incomplete response to treatment. Based on our results, it appears that the CT scan technique lacks adequate sensitivity and specificity to reliably predict the presence of residual metastatic disease.