Inapplicability of Adult Neck‑Mass Guidelines to Pediatric Patients

Guideline Differences Between Children and Adults

• The American Academy of Otolaryngology‑Head and Neck Surgery (AAO‑HNS) guidelines for neck masses are explicitly not applicable to children, because pediatric submandibular masses have fundamentally different etiologies and a lower malignancy risk profile compared with adults【1】【2】【3】. (Evidence level: expert consensus).