2010 Volume 36 Issue 1 Pages 101-104
To better understand ways to improve the content of explanations to patients while obtaining informed consent with respect to in-hospital mortality prior to head and neck cancer surgery, we did a retrospective analysis of in-hospital mortality of a total of 949 surgeries performed for head and neck cancer at Nippon Medical School Hospital, during the period from 1997 to 2008. Among them, 693 were male and 256 were female. The mean and standard deviation of age of these patients were 62.3±12.3.
The in-hospital mortality rate in the total cases was 0.95%, that is nine cases out of a total of 949 cases. That after reconstructive surgery using the free flap was 1.82%, that is six cases out of a total of 329. Next, mid-level surgeries, including surgeries ranging from unilateral radical neck dissection to total laryngectomy with bilateral radical neck dissection, was 1.06%, that is three out of 289. No patient died due to any post-operative complication after smaller level surgeries, which included thyroid surgery, partial parotidectomy and microlaryngeal surgery. The major causes of in-hospital mortality were fistula formation followed by neck infection or airway disorders, based on complicated diseases.
