Centennial of the First Description of the En Bloc Neck Dissection

Neck dissection: past, present and future?

“…The cavity left after removal of the specimen was surrounded by the vagus nerve and vertebral column from behind, by the lateral wall of the pharynx, larynx and hyoid bone and respective muscles from the midline, by the ligated stumps of big vessels from the bottom, and by the digastric muscle, sublingual gland, hypoglossal nerve, lingual artery and the stumps of ligated vessels from above. 8,10 In 1990, Towpik, 8 a Warsaw physician, published in an international journal a note regarding the centennial of the first description of en bloc neck dissection, putting some facts and dates in a proper perspective. In particular, he pointed out that the first detailed description of en bloc neck dissection was reported in Polish by Jawdyń ski in 1888.…”

“…10 Towpik concluded his note by quoting W Osler: 'in science the credit goes to the man who convinces the world, not to the man to whom the idea first occurs'. 8 In 1901, Solis-Cohen 12 mentioned the necessity of removing the neck lymphatics during total laryngectomy, regardless of whether or not they showed any clinical evidence of cancer.…”

A Brief History of Cervical Lymphadenectomy

“…It was in the late 1800's that the first modern descriptions of neck dissection are documented. When and who performed the first neck dissection is a subject of some controversy , Towpik 1990] Rinaldo recently documented the early history of neck dissection well in a paper that highlighted early attempts at en bloc cervical lymphadenectomy by what he termed "the four giants of 19 th century surgery" (Kocher, Billroth, von Langenbeck, and von Volkmann). These publications generally described removal of malignant neck masses, with or without an associated primary tumor.…”

“…His career was cut short when he died of infection at the young age of 45. [Towpik 1990] 3. The early 20 th century…”

European Surgeons Were the First to Perform Neck Dissection

“…In 1990, Towpik, 24 a surgeon of Warsaw, published a note entitled “Centennial of the First Description of the En Bloc Neck Dissection.” This publication called attention to the paper in Polish by Jawdyński in 1888 14 . Towpik 24 observed, “in science the credit goes to the man who convinces the world, not to the man to whom the idea first occurs.” Prior to the 20th century, original ideas were often published in non‐English literature. From a modern perspective, this fact may explain why many of these contributions remained unknown to a wide sector of the scientific community.…”