1ćINTRODUCTION
Tumor encasement of the common
carotid artery (CCA) and/or the internal carotid artery (ICA) in
patients with advanced head and neck
tumors represents a significant surgical challenge. The 5-year survival
rate is about 5%-13%1 partly due to risks of stroke
or carotid blowout syndrome (CBS).Previous approaches to the prevention
of CBS (e.g., surgical ligation, endovascular embolization, covered
stent implantation) were palliative
and most reports did not further solve the tumor
burden2-4.Simple surgical management, e.g., peeling
the tumor off the carotid wall, resection with ligation of the carotid
artery, resection with or without revascularization, results in non R0
resection or intraoperative and postoperative complications, even the
difficulty of the operation is a significant challenge for the
surgeon1,5-6.Therefore, we report our experience with
combination of oncologic complete tumor resection and intravascular
covered stent placement in patients with advanced head neck cancer.