A study of wound drainage fluid for tumor cells as a source of recurrence

Abstract

Postoperative wound drainage fluid from sixty patients who had undergone clinically curative resections for squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck region was collected during a seventy-two hour postoperative period, processed and examined for the presence of tumor cells. Operative washings from each of the cases were also examined. Wound drainage fluids from nine patients (15 per cent) were found to contain tumor cells as late as forty-eight to seventy-two hours after surgery, even though wound irrigations at the time of surgery were negative. In a relatively short follow-up period in two of these patients, seeding under the skin flaps has developed. These observations indicate that seeding of the surgical wound may occur during the early postoperative period, and may be a contributory factor in local recurrence.