Complications of Head and Neck Reconstructive Surgery Using Axial Pedicled Flap
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32412/pjohns.v30i2.341Keywords:
surgical flaps, myocutaneous flap, axial flap, complications, risk factorsAbstract
Objectives: Axial flap surgery is associated with numerous complications. The purpose of this study is to determine the frequency of these complications, and identify possible factors contributory to their occurrence.
Methods:
Study design: Cross-sectional study
Setting: Tertiary public university hospital
Subjects: Records of all patients who underwent axial pedicled flap reconstruction at the otorhinolaryngology ward of our tertiary public university hospital from January 2013 to July 2015 were retrospectively reviewed, and data consisting of age, sex, diagnosis, disease stage, smoking history, alcohol intake, co-morbidities, past operations, pre-operative hemoglobin and albumin, total operative time, total blood loss, location and total area of the surgical defect, and length of hospitalization were tabulated. All complications were listed. Data were analyzed for any potential trends.
Results: A total of 38 patients underwent axial pedicled flap reconstruction in the study period. Nineteen out of 38 (50%) cases involved complications. The most common complication was infection. Most of the complications occurred in males with history of alcohol intake, advanced cancer stage, significant blood loss, recurrent tumors, low pre-operative hemoglobin and albumin levels, and a large area of surgical defect.
Conclusions: The complication rate for axial flap surgery in our series was significant at 50%. Potential risk factors identified were male gender, advanced cancer stage, tumor recurrence, alcohol intake, low pre-operative hemoglobin and albumin levels, significant blood loss, longer operative time, and a larger surgical defect.
Keywords: surgical flaps, myocutaneous flap, axial flap, complications, risk factors
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright transfer (all authors; where the work is not protected by a copyright act e.g. US federal employment at the time of manuscript preparation, and there is no copyright of which ownership can be transferred, a separate statement is hereby submitted by each concerned author). In consideration of the action taken by the Philippine Journal of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery in reviewing and editing this manuscript, I hereby assign, transfer and convey all rights, title and interest in the work, including copyright ownership, to the Philippine Society of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Inc. (PSOHNS) in the event that this work is published by the PSOHNS. In making this assignment of ownership, I understand that all accepted manuscripts become the permanent property of the PSOHNS and may not be published elsewhere without written permission from the PSOHNS unless shared under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license.
