Predictive factors for surgical site infection in head and neck cancer surgery: A case-control study

Surgical Site Infection (SSI) after head and neck cancer surgery may be life threatening and induces increasing in healthcare cost. The objective of this present study was to identify predictive factors associated to surgical site infection in head and neck cancer surgery. Numerous predictive factors were analyzed with univariate case-control method, then with multivariate method. This retrospective study included 71 patients who have been hospitalized in our department during 2010 for a head and neck cancer surgery. The incidence of surgical site infection was 15.5%. The T3-T4 stages were identified as an independent predictive factor (p = 0.04). Our study does not find other predictive factor for a SSI. The NNIS index (National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance), used by the Center for disease control and prevention as predictive factor, was not valid in our study. A specific predictive index should include the tumor stage for Head and Neck Cancer surgery and should be taken into account for the management of a preventive antibiotic treatment.