Incidence of cervical node involvement in metastatic cutaneous malignancy involving the parotid gland

The parotid lymph nodes represent an important group of nodes at risk for metastatic involvement from cutaneous malignancies of the head and neck. When treating patients with metastatic disease in the parotid gland it has been our custom to also remove the lymph nodes of the neck on the basis that these nodes represent other nodal groups at risk for metastatic involvement. The aim of this study is to determine the incidence of cervical node involvement among patients with clinical metastatic SCC or melanoma of the parotid to determine whether treatment of the clinically negative neck is warranted.