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Metastatic cancers to the neck from undetermined primary sites long‐term follow‐up
Author(s) -
Roseman James M.,
James Arthur G.
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
journal of surgical oncology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.201
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1096-9098
pISSN - 0022-4790
DOI - 10.1002/jso.2930190415
Subject(s) - medicine , malignancy , primary tumor , biopsy , neck mass , radiology , physical examination , metastatic tumor , fine needle aspiration , cancer , cytology , surgery , metastasis , pathology
When a patient presents with a mass in the neck, diagnosis by fine needle aspiration cytology is recommended. This allows an accurate diagnosis of malignancy with minimal morbidity. Tissue planes, important in any future definite neck surgery, are not altered, as they would be from an excisional biopsy. Once the diagnosis of metastatic cancer is confirmed, thorough search for the primary tumor must be made. The history, physical examination, and radiographic and laboratory studies must be complete. Finding no origin of tumor, local treatment of the metastases must be done, with the objective being complete eradication of disease. Regular follow‐up, with a continual search for the primary malignancy is then recommended. The specifics of this approach and the results of our series are outlined.