Outcomes of head and neck surgery in patients with a history of solid organ transplantation

Objectives/Hypothesis Examine the prevalence and outcomes of head and neck surgeries in patients with a history of organ transplantation. Study Design A retrospective cross‐sectional analysis utilizing the Nationwide Readmissions Database, 2010 to 2014. Methods The study population included adults patients who underwent head and neck surgeries. Patients with a reported history of solid organ transplantation were compared to patients with no such history. Results The study population included 322 transplant patients (76.4% kidney, 8.7% liver, 8.4% heart, 3.0% kidney/pancreas, 2.3% lung, 0.9% kidney/liver, 0.4% pancreas) and 120,401 controls who underwent comparable procedures. Main surgeries that were performed in cases included 37.8% parathyroid, 17.7% thyroid, 11.2% major salivary gland, 10.6% major mouth/tonsil, and 9.6% major nose/paranasal sinuses. Encountering transplant patients in otolaryngology practice has been increasing annually by three patients for every 10,000 procedures performed in the United States. There was no difference in the overall postoperative complications risk (12.5% vs. 10.1%, P = .26); however, cases had a higher risk of acute renal failure (5.4% vs. 1.1%, P