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Updated: Jan 28, 2026

Porcine As a Training Module for Head and Neck Microvascular Reconstruction
Published on: September 29, 2018
Associations between pre-, post-, and peri-operative variables and health resource use following surgery for head and
Hoda Badr1, Maximiliano Sobrero2, Joshua Chen3
1Department of Medicine, Section of Health Services Research, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.
Objective:
We examined associations between pre-, post-, and peri-operative variables and health resource use in head and neck cancer patients.
Methods:
Patients (N = 183) who were seen for a pre-surgical consult between January 2012 and December 2014 completed surveys that assessed medical history, a patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) of dysphagia, and quality of life (QOL). After surgery, peri-operative (e.g., tracheostomy, feeding tube) and post-operative (e.g., complications) variables were abstracted from patients' medical records.
Results:
Multivariate regression models using backward elimination showed that pre-surgical University of Washington Quality of Life (UW-QOL) Inventory and M.D. Anderson Dysphagia Inventory (MDADI) composite scores, documented surgical complications, and having a tracheostomy, were all significant predictors of hospital length of stay, explaining 57% of the total variance (F(5, 160) = 18.71, p < .001). Male gender, psychiatric history, and lower pre-surgical MDADI scores significantly predicted thirty-day unplanned readmissions (30dUR). Pre-surgical MDADI composite scores also significantly predicted emergencey department (ED) visits within 30 days of initial hospital discharge (p = .02).
Conclusions:
Assessment of PROMs and QOL in the pre-surgical setting may assist providers in identifying patients at risk for prolonged LOS and increased health resource use after hospital discharge.
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