A Brief History of Cervical Lymphadenectomy

A brief summary of the history of head and neck surgery evolution

“…However, it was only with Ettore Bocca, in 1967, that the modified neck dissection technique was popularized 3 . In 1978, Jesse Ballantyne et al published a study in which no discrepancy in recurrence rate between radical and modified neck dissections was observed 5 . Such advances in cervical emptying and knowledge about lymphatic drainage allowed partial laryngeal surgeries to become the standard again during the 1970s and 80s, then with better morbidity rates due to adequate indication and strategic lymph node resection 4 .…”

“…In 1840, Astley Paston Cooper described the finding of breast cancer cells in lymphatic vessels 3 , the first histological confirmation of lymph node metastasis. In 1847, Maximilian Joseph von Chelius, due to the poor prognosis of laryngeal cancers with lymphatic dissemination, claimed that it was impossible to control them 4,5 . In 1880, concerned about the findings of lymphatic dissemination, Theodor Kocher described the surgical removal of a tumor of the tongue in a block, along with lymphatic vessels, through a mandibulectomy 3 .…”

“…In 1894, the idea of elective neck dissection in oropharyngeal neoplasms began to be disseminated 3 . Although the first radical neck dissection was performed in 1888 by Jawdynski, a Polish surgeon, it was George Washington Crile who described the technique and standardized it in 1906 3,5 .…”