The eleventh nerve in radical neck surgery.

The greatest morbidity associated with the radical neck dissection has been the "shoulder syndrome" due to the sacrifice of the spinal accessory nerve. Despite the fact that the XIth nerve can be spared by a careful dissection of the postcervical triangle, to do so remains a controversial issue. The 125 radical neck dissections performed at the University of Wisconsin Clinical Science Center from 1970 through 1975 were carefully evaluated to determine the incidence of recurrent tumor in the operated-on neck. In 60 cases the spinal accessory nerve was resected with the neck specimen, and in 65 cases the nerve was preserved. A second study was then undertaken involving 245 neck dissections performed from 1975-1978 in the Wisconsin Head and neck Cancer Control Network Hospitals. In 69 instances the spinal accessory nerve was spared. The total number of neck dissections (370 cases) from both studies were analyzed. The overall rate for recurrent tumor in the neck with the classical neck dissection was 12%. When the spinal accessory nerve was spared, the recurrent rate was 6%. On the basis of these observations we propose that the classical neck dissection can be modified to preserve the spinal accessory nerve without jeopardizing the chances for a cure in elective neck dissections and selected therapeutic neck dissections.