Occult mets could be a met to ANY area, that are not visible. There are many tissues and structures in the neck that are left after a dissection ( of which there are many different types taking out varying degrees of tissues) and there can be a metastasis to some tissues that are not nodes that were removed at the time of the dissection. However the study mentioned related to the 28%, specifically looked at node involvement, so quoting that was not necssarily appropriate.

Brian, stage 4 oral cancer survivor. OCF Founder and Director. The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.