BACKGROUND: Twenty fire patients with malignant head and neck neoplasias (20 from superior aerodigestive tract and 5 from thyroid gland), were submitted to 33 unilateral or bilateral neck node dissection (15 supraomohyoid, 11 modified and 7 wide field), at the Head and Neck Service of Hospital Araújo Jorge, Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil. METHOD: Eletroneuromiography (ENM) of the trapezius muscle after spinal nerve dissection. RESULTS: In spite of surgical dissection, 94% of trapezius muscle desnervation were detected, being 38% severe and 62% moderate, (p = 0,001). The degree of lesion for spinal nerve after 30 days, showed axoniumtmese in 31 of 33 procedures, and after 180 days, 21% of severe, 72% of moderate and 7% of unsatisfactory reinervation were diagnosed (p = 0,001). CONCLUSIONS: ENM is an effective method of evaluation of neuromuscular unit (trapezius muscle/spinal nerve) and the type of neck node dissection was not determinant of structural nerve alteration.
Trapezius Muscle; Spinal Nerve; Neck Dissection; Eletroneuromiography
