title: The evaluation of a scoring system in airway management after oral cancer surgery.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The purpose of this retrospective study was to investigate the usefulness of tracheostomy scoring system in the decision of postoperative airway management in oral cancer patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 104 patients were reviewed in this retrospective study, who underwent radical resection with or without neck dissection and free flap reconstruction due to oral cancer. The patients were classified into three groups according to the timing of the extubation; extubated groups (n = 51), overnight intubation group (n = 45), and tracheostomy group (n = 8). Cameron's score was used to evaluate the relation between the state of the patient's airway and the type of the operation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Tracheostomy was performed in eight patients (8/104, 7.7 %). A total of 22 patients (21.2 %) had more than 5 points of which 17 patients (77.3 %) did not have a tracheostomy and any postoperative emergency airway problems. The tracheostomy scores were significantly different among the three groups. Hospital stay showed a significant correlation with the tracheostomy score.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The scoring system did not quite agree with the airway management of the authors' clinic; however, it can be one of the clinical factors predicting the degree of the postoperative airway obstruction and surgical aggressiveness for recovery. The further studies are needed for clinically more reliable scoring systems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Sahmyook Adventist Dental Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Ho-Jin
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, School of Dentistry, Kyungpook National University, 2175 Dalgubeoldae-ro, Daegu, 700-705 South Korea.
authors.forename: Jin-Wook
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, School of Dentistry, Kyungpook National University, 2175 Dalgubeoldae-ro, Daegu, 700-705 South Korea.
authors.forename: So-Young
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, School of Dentistry, Kyungpook National University, 2175 Dalgubeoldae-ro, Daegu, 700-705 South Korea.
authors.forename: Chin-Soo
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, School of Dentistry, Kyungpook National University, 2175 Dalgubeoldae-ro, Daegu, 700-705 South Korea.
authors.forename: Tae-Geon
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Kwon
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, School of Dentistry, Kyungpook National University, 2175 Dalgubeoldae-ro, Daegu, 700-705 South Korea.
authors.forename: Jun-Youg
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-0104-9338
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Paeng
keywords: Nasotracheal intubation; Oral cancer; Scoring system; Tracheostomy