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At the January 1987 Southern Section Meeting of the Triological Society in Santa Fe, NM, Edward Weisberger, MD, and Raleigh E. Lingeman, MD, both of Indiana University Medical Center, Indianapolis, reported their results using a cable graft from the greater auricular nerve to reconstitute the spinal accessory nerve in nine patients who underwent radical neck dissection. Postoperative assessment was accomplished using a patient questionnaire, strength testing, and electromyographic recordings. The results were compared with those of a second group of patients who had undergone modified neck dissections and preservation of the spinal accessory nerve and with those of a third group who had radical neck dissection but no cable grafting. They found that the group of patients who received the cable grafts scored in between the two other groups. The modified neck dissection and nerve preservation group had the best overall shoulder function, and the radical neck dissection and no-graft