Surgical management of local and regional recurrent head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

During 1997 more than 40,000 Americans developed a squamous cancer of the upper aerodigestive tract. Surgery and radiation therapy may have been used alone or together, with reasonable prospects for curing them of disease. The majority of patients whose cancer cannot be controlled are confronted with local or regional recurrence. Such recurrences often occur in sites of the head and neck that are suited to early detection during an office examination. Hence, many are treatable with curative intent. This review addresses various surgical approaches to these difficult management problems.