[The value of cellulo-adenectomy in the treatment of pharyngolaryngeal cancers without clinical adenopathy].

The term cellulo-adenectomy involves dissection of all the neck jugulo-carotid lymph nodes below the digastric muscle and above the omo-hyoid muscle. From the study of 133 cases treated by primary surgery, it can be said that this technique is essentially diagnosis to verify the actual integrity of the jugulo-carotid lymph trunk in patients who are clinically NO and who present a lymphophile ENT tumour. Such a technique necessitates a macroscopic lymph examination with an extemporaneous anatomical and pathological examination. Subsequent therapy depends on the result; for N+ patients, further surgery and/or irradiation, irrespective of the site; for a confirmed N- patient, additional therapy depending on the site of the tumour. Our experience has shown that this approach is safe and enables the treatment of the lymph glands to be better adapted to the reality of the neoplastic invasion.