Short- and long-term mortality and causes of death after reconstruction of cancers of the head and neck with free flaps

The use of free flaps to reconstruct cancers of the head and neck is accompanied by appreciable postoperative morbidity and high long-term mortality, but the causes of death and the impact of postoperative complications on survival have not been well studied. We have therefore analysed retrospectively the causes of death and survival of 146 such patients operated on between 2008 and 2016 of whom a total of 62 (43%) had died by the end of 2016. The cause of death was the primary disease in 45 of the 62.

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