Sudden death after major head and neck surgery.
OBJECTIVE
This review will discuss the mortality after major ear, nose and throat surgery, particularly sudden death. It will also discuss the postoperative follow-up of patients.


RESULTS
Sudden death is a rare event after major ear, nose and throat surgery, and occurs mainly during the first three postoperative days.


CONCLUSIONS
In more recent studies, the mortality rate after neck dissection was below 4%, which is at a lower value than reported in previous studies. Sudden deaths have been described, however, mainly during the first three postoperative days. Alcoholism and perioperative hypotension are two predictive factors for cardiac complications. Careful follow-up of these patients during the early postoperative period should be performed to reduce the mortality by shortening the delay of care.
Anaesthesiology Department, Brest Hospital, France.
Gildas
G
Gueret
Jean-Louis
JL
Bourgain
Bernard
B
Luboinski
D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects; D002423:Cause of Death; D003645:Death, Sudden / Q000209:etiology*; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D037981:Neck Dissection / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000401:mortality*; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000401:mortality; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors