title: [Perioperative mortality in otorhinolaryngology tumor surgery].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Perioperative mortality is an important factor for quality assurance in surgery. For ENT-surgery only sparse data has been published.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective analysis of 1054 interventions performed on 775 consecutive patients treated surgically for benign and malignant tumors of the head and neck was conducted during a 3-year period in 1995-1998.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of these patients, 34.1% were female and 65.9% male. Age ranged from 4-88 years with a mean age of 54.8 years. 489 patients (63.1%) were treated for malignoma and 286 for benign tumors (36.9%). 0.9% (n = 7) of our patients (n = 775) died during the first 30 days after surgery. That means 0.66% of all surgical interventions (n = 1054) were followed by post-operative mortality.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In otorhinolaryngological surgery, post-operative mortality seems to be acceptable and low compared to other medical disciplines. The challenge for surgery must be to reach and preserve low perioperative mortality rates in the future. Finding the individually correct indication for surgical treatment must be guaranteed in order to reach this aim.
authors.affiliation: Klinik und Poliklinik für Hals-, Nasen- und Ohrenheilkunde, Universität zu Köln.
authors.forename: H E
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Eckel
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Goldschmidt
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schauermann
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Knopf
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Streppel
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010039:Otorhinolaryngologic Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000401:mortality*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors