Vascular Surgery in Head and Neck Tumors

THIS SUBJECT of vascular surgery in treatment of tumefactions of the head and neck¹⁻⁶can be divided into two general groups: (1) tumors which involve major blood vessels of the head and neck either primarily, as the carotid body tumor, or secondarily, as metastatic carcinoma from some other primary; and (2) tumors which in themselves are vascular in origin such as: (a) aneurysms of the carotid artery, (b) arteriovenous fistulae with aneurysmal formation, and (c) hemangiomas or lymph hemangiomas. In the first group, the surgical principles involved consist of resection of the tumor with the involved carotid vessel and re-establishment of vascular continuity, using either a prosthetic graft or an autogenous vein graft. It is believed that in the surgical treatment of carotid body tumors, the preferred therapy is resection of the tumor with the juxtaposed bifurcation of the common carotid artery and the reestablishment of the common carotid-internal