Objective: The Portsmouth Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the Enumeration of Mortality and Morbidity ('P-POSSUM') is a two-part scoring system that includes a physiological assessment and a measure of operative severity. This study sought to determine whether risk estimates for this scoring system could be used in major head and neck reconstructive surgery.
Method: A retrospective review was performed of patients undergoing resection for a temporal bone malignancy in a single head and neck centre in Dublin, Ireland, from 2002 to 2021.
Results: The mean ± standard deviation morbidity estimate calculated using the scoring system was 47.6 per cent ± 19.5 per cent. The actual rate of complications was 47 per cent. The optimal cut-off for the scoring system was calculated using the Youden index from the receiver operating characteristic curve, which was 40.5 per cent in this case.
Conclusion: The study indicates that the Portsmouth Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the Enumeration of Mortality and Morbidity is a useful tool for predicting morbidity risk in patients undergoing head and neck resection with reconstruction for temporal bone malignancies.
Keywords: Morbidity; Postoperative Complications; Risk Factors; Temporal Bone.