Abstract
Lymph flow of the neck was studied in seventy preoperative and fifty-three postoperative cases of radical neck dissection. Movement of radio isotope 198Au injected in the soft palate or the retroauricular region was investigated on scintigram. The results are summarized as follows:
1. In one preoperative case 198Au moved into the contralateral lymphatic system.
2. In forty-four of postoperative cases 198Au injected in the soft palate was traced. The radio isotope moved into the contralateral lymphatic system in ten (twenty-two percent) of the cases. The movement of 198Au into the normal side was found more often in cases of “total neck dissection” than in those of “conservative neck disse ction”.3. Six of the forty-four patients presented lymphatic flow into the ipsilateral nuchal or supraclavicular region.
This never happened in the preoperative cases.
4. The 198Au injected in the retroauricular region did not flow into the lymphatic system on the other side even in the postoperative cases.
