Objectives:The objectives of this study were to classify and analyze perioperative complications following free flap reconstruction in the head and neck and investigate potential predictors of these complications.Methods:A retrospective chart analysis of 304 consecutive free flap reconstructions for defects in the head and neck were examined. Patient and operative characteristics as well as complications were recorded prospectively and analyzed using ordinal logistic regression.Results:The overall complication rate was 32.6% with a perioperative mortality rate of 0.3%. The flap loss rate was 2.0% and the partial flap necrosis rate was 1.0%. Multivariate analysis demonstrated a significant correlation between perioperative complication and tumor stage as well as reconstruction site.Conclusions:The rate and grade of complications with free flap reconstruction in the head and neck were found to be low. Higher tumor stage and pharyngoesophageal reconstruction were found to be associated with increased complication grades, whereas preoperative radiation alone and chemoradiation were not. Smoking and alcohol use, age, diabetes mellitus, peripheral vascular disease, and preoperative myocardial infarction as well as preoperative cerebrovascular accident were not found to be associated with increased complications. No statistically significant difference in complication grades was found with different flap types or indications for reconstruction.

Microscopic tumor cut-through revised to negative margins is a powerful prognosticator that is observed only when regional disease is also present. The value of adjuvant therapeutic regimens is questionable in patients with microscopic tumor cut-through, revised to negative margins, and with no regional disease.

Surgical salvage for oropharyngeal SCC after failure of radiotherapy (+/- chemotherapy) is feasible. Patients who may benefit from surgery include those without regional recurrence and/or those in whom negative margins can be obtained. However, patients may be tracheotomy or gastrostomy tube dependent. The p16 status did not seem to have prognostic impact in the salvage setting; however, larger series are required to assess this relationship. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 38: E658-E664, 2016.