Major Complications and 30-Day Morbidity for Single Jaw Versus Bimaxillary Orthognathic Surgery as Reported by NSQIP

Acute complications in orthognathic surgery are reported in single-institution studies with small sample sizes. We aimed to analyze risk factors for acute complications using a national data set to better inform surgical decision-making.

2005-2015 National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) data sets were analyzed for patients undergoing Le Fort 1 and/or bilateral sagittal split osteotomies (BSSO) for nontraumatic indications. Demographics, comorbidities, medical, and surgical 30-day complications were tabulated. A logistic regression model was used to determine predictors of complications.

Five hundred eight patients met the inclusion criteria: 228 underwent Le Fort I osteotomies, 152 BSSO, and 128 patients underwent both during a single surgical encounter. Overall complication rate was 4.5% (23/508). Superficial infection was the most common complication (11 in BSSO and 2 in Le Fort I cohorts). Increasing age and undergoing BSSO alone were associated with higher overall complication rates (P < .05) and surgical complications specifically (P < .05). Patients undergoing the combined procedure had shorter operative time (208 minutes) than the times for Le Fort I osteotomies alone (177 minutes) and BSSO alone (155 minutes) added together and did not have a longer hospital stay (P = .608) or increased need for transfusion (P = 1.0) compared to the surgeries being done separately.

This is the first complication risk factor analysis for Le Fort I osteotomy and BSSO using the multi-institutional NSQIP data set. Combining BSSO and Le Fort I osteotomy leads to a shorter overall operative time and does not increase hospital stay duration or 30-day complication rate when compared to the 2 procedures being done separately.