The Relationships of Comorbidities and Old Age with Postoperative Complications of Head and Neck Free Flaps: A Review

The aim of this paper was to characterize the relationships between free flap complications and old age or comorbidities. In a PubMed and Scopus search, the search terms "1) free flap OR microvascular anastomosis AND 2) elderly OR old age AND 3) complications OR comorbidity OR co-morbidity" were used. Among the 62 full texts from 241 abstracts, 31 papers without sufficient content were excluded and 11 mined papers were added. Thereafter, 42 papers were reviewed.Overall complication rates increased significantly with age (p<0.001; y=0.457x+13.464; 40.9% at 60 years, 45.5% at 70 years, and 50.0% at 80 years).

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