Objective: Patients with head and neck cancer often undergo extensive ablative and reconstructive surgery. Many risk factors are unalterable, but some operative variables are possible to adjust. The goal of this study was to estimate the association between operative variables and the incidence of perioperative complications in a contemporary tertiary care university-based head and neck patient population and a Veteran Administration hospital head and neck patient population from an earlier time period.
Methods: We retrospectively reviewed all patients who underwent major head and neck surgery.
Results: Two-hundred-two university patients and 122 veteran patients were reviewed. On multivariable analysis, the total amount of intravenous (IV) fluid received during the procedure was associated with postoperative complications as were patients' weight, American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score, and adult comorbidity evaluation-27 (ACE-27) score. These associations did not depend on whether the patient was treated at the university or veteran hospital.
Conclusion: Our study suggests that the odds of a postoperative complication increase as the total amount of IV fluid increases.
Keywords: ACE‐27 score; ASA; complications; head and neck cancer; intraoperative fluids.
© 2022 The Authors. World Journal of Otorhinolaryngology ‐ Head and Neck Surgery published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Chinese Medical Association.