Abstract
Wound healing among 150 patients with head and neck cancer after radical neck dissections or composite operations through various skin incisions was studied. The results were as follows:
1) Mllion's modified neck incision and MacFee's parallel transverse incisions in the group of patients with radical neck dissections only resulted in the high primary healing rates.
2) In the group of cases undergoing a composite operation, Crile's Y-shaped incisions and Million's incision resulted in fairly good primary healing rates.
3) The composite operations through parallel transverse incisions covering bilateral neck, median T-shaped incisions and median H-shaped incisions Cor Martin's double-Y incisions for laryngectomy and bilateral neck dissection) showed such frequent wound complications as salivary fistulae and carotid artery ruptures
4) Wound complications occurred 4.5 times more in composite operations by both irradiated and nonirradiated cases than in radical neck dissections only.
