Two cases of head and neck cancer with carotid artery reconstruction.

A carotid artery reconstruction was performed on two patients of head and neck cancer with infiltration into the carotid artery. To detect any possibility of cerebral ischemia at the time of ligation of the carotid artery, a temporary occlusion test of the internal carotid artery with a balloon catheter (balloon Matas test) was performed in both cases. An artificial vessel (Case 1) and a greater saphenous vein (Case 2) were used as an implanted vessel. No neurological sequelae were observed during or after the surgery in these cases. With a recent advance in various imaging diagnosis and an improvement in surgical techniques, the radical treatment including carotid artery reconstruction is expected to improve the prognosis for the cases demonstrating tumor infiltration into the carotid artery.