Surgical anatomy of the neck.

The purpose of the radical neck dissection is to remove the lymphatics and the drainage areas of primary cancers originating in the head and neck. Applying this principle of regional lymphatic excision (radical dissection), all cervical lymphatics and, in addition, certain adjacent muscles, nerves, and glands must be sacrificed to facilitate complete extirpation of the disease. A "partial" or upper neck dissection for carcinoma violates the lymph node bearing fields and negates the tenets of the en bloc dissection of cervical lymphatics.