The dissection of surgical specimens from the upper aero digestive tract is often difficult due to the anatomically complicated nature of this area. Local environ ment dictates routes of tumour spread and surgical margins at risk and these features differ for various subsites within this part of the body. Moreover, ade quate investigation of surgical specimens of the upper aero digestive tract requires knowledge of the various types of surgical procedures used for differ ent areas and should provide data that enable the surgeon to correlate preoper atively performed diagnostic imaging with...