Postoperative complications after chemoradiation for advanced head and neck cancer

Abstract

BACKGROUND: To compare the rate of postoperative complications of patients with advanced head and neck cancer treated with the chemoradiation protocol "RADPLAT" with that of a similar cohort of patients treated with primary surgery. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 50 patients treated with RADPLAT and 50 patients treated with primary surgery. RESULTS: The rates of complications for local wound problems were 54% and 42%, respectively, for the RADPLAT cohort and the primary surgery cohort. However, the rate of local complications for the subset of RADPLAT patients undergoing clean-contaminated surgery was 69% (p =.305). The rates of complications for medical (systemic) problems were 10% and 12%, respectively, for RADPLAT versus primary surgery patients. There was no significant difference in hospitalization time between the groups. CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with advanced head and neck cancer, surgical complications are high but not significantly different between patients undergoing the chemoradiation protocol "RADPLAT" and those undergoing primary surgery.