H B Lejeune | PubMed Health

PubMed1995

Carotid artery sacrifice testing: assessment in patients with advanced head and neck cancer.

The otolaryngologist seeking a cure of the patient with advanced cancer of the head and neck removes all neck metastases along with the primary tumor. Tumor involvement of the carotid artery presents a special dilemma to the otolaryngologist because a complete resection would mean removal of the affected carotid artery, a procedure which has, historically, carried high morbidity and mortality rates. Today, the otolaryngologist will offer tumor resection with carotid artery sacrifice only after a patient passes a preoperative assessment of collateral circulation to the brain. Numerous methods have been devised to determine a patient's preoperative risk of neurologic compromise. Several tests are detailed and their usefulness discussed.

Carotid Artery, Common↗

PubMed1995

Passive smoking.

One in three adults in the United States smokes. Smokers inhale one quarter of the smoke from cigarettes. But 75% of cigarette smoke is released into the environment. Nonsmokers are exposed to this environmental tobacco smoke and are at risk for disease. A growing body of literature supports the association of passive, involuntary, or secondhand smoking with human pathology. This discussion examines the makeup of environmental tobacco smoke and its role in causing human disease with a review of the literature relating environmental tobacco smoke to head and neck pathology.

Adolescent↗