| Popis: |
Introduction: Head and neck cancer is a global health problem. Cancer surgery plays important roles in cancer therapy and complications are, to a greater or lesser extent, inherent to it. Pretreatment albumin levels have been shown to have prognostic value in cancer patients; but the relationship between hypoalbuminemia and postoperative complications in patients with head and neck cancer is unknown. Objective: To evaluate the relationship between postoperative complications and hypoalbuminemia in patients with head and neck cancer. Method: A cross-sectional study was carried out, with a sample of 133 cases, the variables were used: age, sex, hypoalbuminemia, complications and type of complications. Fisher's exact test and its exact significance were used, with a confidence level of 95 %. For the prognostic analysis of the relationship between complications and hypoalbuminemia, the absolute risk was calculated with the odds ratio. Results: 54,8 % corresponded to the group over 60 years old, 75,9 % to the male sex, 20,3 % of the cases had hypoalbuminemia and only 19,5 % presented complications. The absolute risk of complications in patients with hypoalbuminemia was 1312,5. Conclusions: Hypoalbuminemia is a poor prognostic factor for the appearance of postoperative complications in patients with head and neck cancer. |
