MSMAC, For what it's worth, I went to see a local MO yesterday for the first time (as my primary team was at Mass General) and he said "we are seing less and less neck dissections these days". He told me this because I had just explained how my surgeon thought he was going in for a Brachial Clefy Cyst only to find a large node with SSC in it. Our next step was to identify the primary tumor with a PET and the whole dissection topic was really just skipped over. Now I don't know if this happened because I had my surgery at Tufts and my TX at Mass General and there was some communication issues there or if everyone just really agreed that with the effectiveness of radiation these days that ND's are no longer the best route. I really don't know. I never had one. One thing my RO told me was that from your very first rad TX each session kills 99.99% of cancer cells. That's EVERY session. This is a top guy at MGH. 35 years in head and neck. Recommended to me by Dr. Bob Arnot. Good luck to you. Try not to het ahead of yourself. You're in the right place. Stay close. MaineWill