Influence of age and preoperative complications on occurrence of postoperative complications in elderly patients with oral cancer / 解放军医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the influence of age and preoperative complications on occurrence of postoperative complications in elderly patients with oral cancer. Methods The clinical data of 106 patients with oral cancer who had undergone surgical treatment in the General Hospital of PLA from Jan. to Jul. 2014 were retrospcetively analysed. Among them, 66 patients were over 60 years old, and 40 patients were under 60 years old. The relationship between age, preoperative complications and postoperative complications was analyzed. Results Complications including hypertension, heart disease, lung disease, anemia, etc. were significantly higher in patients of elderly group than in non-elderly group (P<0.05), but no significant difference was found in incidence of postoperative complications between two groups. Of 27 cases with more than 2 kinds of complications in elderly group, 14 (51.9%) suffered from postoperative complications, showing a significant difference (P=0.0244) compared with the overall incidence of postoperative complications in elderly group (17/66, 25.8%). Of 15 patients with preoperative complications in non-elderly group, 6 (40.0%) suffered from postoperative complications, but no significant difference (P=0.4462) was found when compared with that of postoperative complications in elderly group. In elderly patients, the incidence of postoperative complications was significantly different between those with preoperative complications (diabetes, lung disease, hypoalbuminemia or anemia) and those without preoperative complications (P<0.05). Conclusion Age is not the independent risk factor for occurrence of postoperative complications, while some preoperative complications (such as diabetes mellitus, lung disease, hypoproteinemia and anemia) are the risk factors related to postoperative complications.