For what it's worth, at the two large CCCs where we consulted after my husband's diagnosis -- Memorial Sloan-Kettering and Johns Hopkins -- neck dissections are not done routinely after chemoradation, and in fact at Sloan, we met with top HNC Dr. and he said quite bluntly, we do not do them unless we are pretty sure there is residual cancer.

At Hopkins, where my husband was treated (and he had 2 pre-treatment cancerous lymph nodes) they do a PET/CT (not a PET alone, it is not as accurate) couple of months out from treatment. At that point, surgery may be performed if the scan indicates a possibility of residual cancer. But not that many surgeries are done as they are getting very good response just from chemoradiation.

Having said that, most people on this forum who have had NDs have found that this was by far the least rigorous part of their treatment -- in other words, it sounds worse than it is.

So I would ask your mum's doctor about the pros and cons of a ND, and (if one is not done) what monitoring tests they will do in the future -- and how often -- to detect residual or recurrent disease.

Gail