Can enough lymph nodes be taken out through lateral neck dissection in patients with larynx cancer?

Abstract

This study aims to evaluate whether the number of lymph nodes which are dissected by lateral neck dissection (LND) is enough and to compare the number of lymph nodes which are dissected from the same lymph node regions by radical and type 1 modified radical neck dissection (RND). Between January 2000 and June 2004, data of 98 neck dissection materials which were performed to 63 patients (52 males, 11 females; mean age 61.9 years; range 48 to 75 years) with larynx cancer were retrospectively analyzed. The number of lymph nodes taken from the second, third and fourth regions of radical and type 1 modified RND and LND were individually and totally compared. The American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) tumor node metastasis (TNM) classification system was used for primary tumor and neck metastasis classification, while the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center classification system was used for the classification of cervical lymphatic chain. Two patients (3.17%) had subglottic, 19 (30.15%) had glottic, and 42 (66.66%) had supraglottic lesions. A total of 732 lymph nodes were removed from three regions in RND group, while 1042 lymph nodes were removed in LND group. Our study results showed that the number of lymph nodes removed by LND was sufficient and RBD was not superior in terms of the number of lymph nodes removed.