Maxillectomy: indications, types, and factors associated with its early complications among patients who underwent surgery at Muhimbili National Hospital.

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background: A global rise in surgical complications has been reported in recent years, ranging from 3-22%. It continues to be a public health problem in terms of patient mortality, morbidity and hospital costs. A higher burden of complications is documented in maxillectomy procedures ranging from 10.6 to 43.9%. However, In Tanzania and Africa, little is known about complications of maxillectomy and their associated factors. Aim: We conducted this study to determine indications, types, and factors associated with early maxillectomy complications among patients at Muhimbili National Hospital. Materials and Methods: We conducted a hospital-based cross-sectional study and recruited 62 patients who underwent surgery at MNH between September 2023 and February 2024. A convenient sampling technique was employed and a semi-structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Descriptive and Logistic regression analyses were performed to determine indications, types, and factors associated with early complications of maxillectomy. A p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results; The median age was 38.5 years,51.6% were males,16.1% were underweight,33.9% had known comorbidities,9.7% and 29.0% had positive history of tobacco use and alcohol consumption respectively. Malignant tumors (50%) and partial maxillectomy (79%) respectively, were the most common indications and type of maxillectomy performed. Overall, 56.5% of study participants had some form of early complications, with wound infections being predominant (32.3%). Total maxillectomy, malignant tumors and, > 3 hours duration of surgery showed significantly higher rates of complications in their respective subgroups. However, > 3 hours duration of surgery was ultimately the factor associated with early complications of maxillectomy after multivariate logistic regression analyses. vi Conclusion; Malignant tumors constitute about half of maxillectomy indications.Early complications of maxillectomy affect more than half of patients undergoing surgery at MNH. Duration of surgery of >3 hours has the potential to increase the odds of complications up to 12.9 times.