Textbook outcome was associated with better survival in oral cancer surgery in southern Taiwan

To explore the impact of textbook outcome (TO) on long-term survival in oral cancer surgery.

In total, 386 patients with tumor resection, neck dissection (ND), and reconstruction between 2011 and 2020 were included. TO was defined as negative margin; adequate ND; no 3-day emergency room revisit; no 30-day readmission; and length of stay ≤22 days. Multivariate Cox regression was used to evaluate the impact of TO and 5-year overall survival (OS).

The TO rate was 35%. Younger age, subsite in buccal area, Charlson Comorbidity Index Score of 0, higher body mass index, higher hemoglobin, higher albumin, and unilateral ND were associated with TO. 5-year OS was 70.5% in overall TO patients and 49.0% in non-TO patients (HR, 0.47; 95% CI, 0.31-0.70; p < 0.001). Non-TO was associated with an increased mortality rate (aHR, 1.73; 95% CI, 1.14-2.63) after adjusting other factors and the result remained robust with inverse probability of treatment weighting analysis. The impact of TO on OS was more significant in age <60, advanced stage, and diagnosis year before 2018.

Not achieving TO in oral cancer surgery was associated with worse long-term outcome. TO could be used as a proxy for surgical quality improvement.