Evaluation of Surgical Complications of Mandibulectomy

Abstract

Mandibulectomy is a surgery that leads to heavy aesthetic and functional sequelae. Surgical complications have been noted but have not yet been evaluated. The aim of this study was to evaluate the surgical complications of mandibulectomy. This is a retrospective descriptive and analytical study of patients who underwent mandibulectomy in the Department of Maxillofacial Surgery of the CHU JDR Befelatanana between January 2017 and December 2020. A correlation between the occurrence of complications, parameters related to the patients and those related to the surgery was sought. Patient-related parameters were: age and sex, comorbidities, toxic habits and body mass index. The parameters related to the surgery which were studied were the duration of the intervention, the size and the seat of the bone defect, the interruption or not of the mandibular continuity. Forty-six cases were selected. The average age was 36.98 years and the sex ratio was 0.7. Fifty percent of patients developed surgical complications. The total number of complications was 38. Salivary fistula was the most frequent complication (26.32%). No correlation was found between the occurrence of complications and patient-related parameters. There were 69.57% of complications when the procedure lasted more than 180 minutes (p = 0.003). A correlation was found between the occurrence of complications and the size of the resected bone (p = 0.009). Among the complications, 56.52% occurred when the size exceeded 130 mm (p = 0.03). The complication rate is high. The size of the resected bone and the duration of the operation influence the occurrence of complications.