Abstract
We investigated 6 patients with cervical metastasis from an unknown primary site and reported guidelines for the assessment of primary lesions with reference to the literature. Of the 6 patients, the primary lesion was identified after the initiation of treatment in 2 patients (parotid gland and oropharynx, respectively), and by autopsy in 2 patients (epipharynx and hypopharynx, respectively). The primary site was not identified in the 2 remaining patients. One died without postmortem examination and the other survived but the primary site was never identified. Four of the 6 patients were treated chiefly by neck dissection, and the remaining 2 patients, who had inoperable adhesive cervical tumors, were treated by radiochemotherapy. Although the prognosis is poor, aggressive treatment of cervical metastatic lesions may be of some benefit.
