Head and Neck Cancer Complications in the Geriatric Population Based on Hospital Case Volume

To determine whether surgical case volume is a predictive factor of surgical outcomes when managing geriatric patients with head andneck cancer.

A cross-sectional study design was used. Data were obtainedfrom the Vizient Database, which included a total of 93 academicinstitutions. Men and women aged between 65 and 100 years undergoing head and neck cancer surgery during 2009 and 2012,excluding cases of thyroid cancer and skin cancer of the head and neck(n = 4544) were included in the study. Hospital case volume was definedas low (≤21 cases/year), moderate (22-49 cases/year), or high (≥50 cases/year). The frequency of comorbidities and complications wasmeasured by hospital case volume using a χ² test. Significancewas determined with an α level of .05.

The largest number of head and neck cancer cases involving comorbidities (90.54%) and the highest rate of overall complications(27.50%) occurred in moderate case volume institutions compared to athe complication rate of 22.89% in low volume hospitals and 21.50% in highvolume hospitals (P < .0001). The most common comorbidities across all3 hospital case volumes included hypertension, metastatic cancer,and chronic pulmonary disease and the most common complicationsincluded hemorrhage/hematoma and postoperative pulmonarycompromise.

With more geriatric patients requiring surgery for head andneck cancer, it would be beneficial to manage the more complex cases at high volume centers and to develop multidisciplinary teams to optimizecase management and minimize complications.