Metástases cervicais de carcinoma espinocelular de cabeça e pescoço: acurácia da avaliação pré-operatória.

Introduction: Analysis of a series of works of world literature, discussing the accuracy of palpation and cervical lymph node imaging, highlighted the need to assess the method used in our teaching hospital. Objective: To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of preoperative evaluation through palpation and CT cervical lymph nodes of patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Methods: We analyzed 398 patients with head and neck tumors. They compared the clinical stage assessed by palpation and CT scan of the neck with the data found by the anatomical and pathological analysis in the product of neck dissections conducted in order to determine the concordance rate between the two evaluations. Results: Of 398 patients included in the study, there was concordance rate of 83.6% between clinical staging considered negative and observed after emptying confirmed by pathological examination. It was noted that the accuracy of diagnosis of lymph node metastases in the preoperative period was 78.4% while the accuracy of agreement between the two staging was 69.1%. Conclusion: The use of imaging methods, particularly computed tomography associated with palpation, shows a significant increase in the diagnostic capacity of lymph node metastases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]