Premium
Risk factors for wound infection in head and neck cancer surgery: A prospective study
Author(s) -
Penel Nicolas,
Lefebvre Daniéle,
Fournier Charles,
Sarini Jèrome,
Kara Ahmed,
Lefebvre JeanLouis
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
head and neck
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.012
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 1097-0347
pISSN - 1043-3074
DOI - 10.1002/hed.1058
Subject(s) - medicine , head and neck cancer , prospective cohort study , surgery , hypopharyngeal cancer , univariate analysis , mann–whitney u test , stage (stratigraphy) , multivariate analysis , head and neck , cancer , confidence interval , radiation therapy , paleontology , biology
Background The goal of this prospective study is to determine risk factors for wound infections (WI) for patients with head and neck cancer who underwent surgical procedure with opening of upper aerodigestive tract mucosa. Methods One hundred sixty‐five consecutive surgical procedures were studied at Oscar Lambret Cancer Center within a 24‐month interval. Twenty‐five variables were recorded for each patient. Statistical evaluation used X 2 test analysis (categorical data) and Mann–Whitney test (continuous variables). Results The overall rate of WI was 41.8%. Univariate analysis indicated that five variables were significantly related to the likelihood of WI: tumor stage ( p = .044), previous chemotherapy ( p = .008), duration of preoperative hospital stay ( p = 022), permanent tracheostomy ( p = .00008), and hypopharyngeal and laryngeal cancers ( p = .008). Conclusions Despite antibiotic prophylaxis, WI occurrence is high. These data inform the head and neck surgeon, when a patient is at risk for WI and may help to design future prospective studies. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Head Neck 23: 447–455, 2001.