CERVICAL LYMPH-NODE METASTASES FROM AN UNKNOWN PRIMARY

In this retrospective study covering the period from 1%0 to 1973, a series of 51 patients were treated at the University of Iowa Hospitals for cervical lymph node metastases from an occult primary. Of this group of 51 patients, 27 (53%) survived 2 years and 15 (29%) survived 5 years. The best control and prognosis occurred in those patients who had a radical neck dissection combined with radiation therapy consisting of at least 5000 rad to the entire neck and to the sites of a potential ENT primary. The dose of radiation therapy given to the contralateral neck prevented later appearance of nodes and was effective in eliminating the appearance of the primary cancer in the naso-oro-laryngopharyngeal region. Follow-up of our patients eventually yielded only 1 ENT primary, and 6 patients eventually demonstrated a lung primary as the cause of their cervical lymph node metastases. © 1979.