Surgical procedures
The most common operation described was neck dissection (296), of which
53 were combined with a pectoralis major flap. Other procedures included
parotidectomy (23), total laryngectomy (52), lymph node excision (34)
and submandibular gland excision (18). Two papers, comparing
cyanoacrylate and sutures, performed a variety of operations including
32 thyroidectomies.
Platysma or subcutaneous suturing before skin closure was described in 4
papers. Operations were performed by a single senior surgeon in 2
studies. Four papers described use of drains and 4 used post-operative
intravenous antibiotics. Study characteristics and details of surgical
procedures are summarised in table 2 .