Selective neck dissection in early oral cancer, what is this?

Treatment: Selective neck dissection is removal of lymph nodes in an anatomic region of the neck, determined by where the primary cancer is located. For certain early oral cancers, this is done because the chance of microscopic spread to the lymph nodes (meaning it can't be felt or seen on a scan) is relatively high.

Vs Radial Neck Diss: The term "selective" refers to a more conservative operation compared to "radical" neck dissection. Fully explained here: http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/849834-overview.

Surgery: Surgery to remove the cancerous mass and surrounding lymph nodes with minimal damage to the neck area.

Surgery: The neck dissection is a surgical procedure for control of neck lymph node metastasis from tumors of the head and neck (including oral cancer). This is to remove lymph nodes from one side of the neck into which cancer cells may have migrated. Selective means lymph nodes are grouped into regions corresponding to the cancer location and only nodes from that group are removed.