Abstract
A survey was conducted of 102 patients whose only clinical sign was a tumor of the neck on their first visit to our institution. In 17 of them, the diagnosis proved to be metastatic carcinoma of the neck; in 5 of them the primary site could not be determined. Histological examinations of the metastatic lymphnodes revealed squamous cell carcinoma (52%), adenocarcinoma (19%), transitional cell carcinoma (19%) and carcinoma symplex (10%). The average survival time was 11.5 months in the 5 patients whose primary sites were unknown, and all died within 2 years after their first vistit. Of the 12 patients with metastatic cervical tumors whose primary lesions were discovered, 6 died, and 6 are still alive. The average survival time of the 6 who died was 33.3
months. Patients with multiple metastatic tumors in the lower cervical or supraclavicular region have a poorer prognosis than do those with a single metastatic tumor in the upper cervical region.
