Short Hospital Stay After Neck Dissection

OBJECTIVE: Cervical lymphadenectomy is a common adjunctive therapy for the treatment of head and neck malignancies. Postoperative care of otherwise healthy patients with isolated neck dissection or in combination with other procedures often requires limited nursing attention after the first postoperative day. At our institution, patients are often taught to manage their drains and discharged home. Therefore, we sought to characterize the subset of patients who will require only overnight hospital care after neck dissection. STUDY DESIGN: We retrospectively reviewed our experience in a tertiary academic medical center over the past 6 years with patients who underwent neck dissection, isolated or with other procedures, and were sent home by postoperative day 1. RESULTS: In all, 23 of 260 patients were identified (8.8%). Two patients were noted to have postoperative seromas, with no other complications noted. CONCLUSION: We conclude that short hospital stay after neck dissection is reasonable for the motivated patient without significant comorbidities. SIGNIFICANCE: This is the first study to examine the feasibility of short hospital stay after neck dissection.