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Background: Free tissue transfer reconstruction carries significant complication rates in surgical head and neck oncology. A registry-based approach offers a possibility to investigate the factors affecting increased morbidity and early mortality, that is, death within 6 months of treatment. Methods: A retrospective registry review was conducted on a series of 317 consecutive microvascular free tissue transfers in head and neck cancer patients performed during 2013–2017 at the Helsinki University Hospital (Helsinki, Finland). All surviving patients had a minimum follow-up of 2 years (range 24–84 months). Results: Overall, 36 (11.4%) early deaths occurred in this series. In multivariable logistic regression analysis, patients aged 75 years and older ( p = 0.019), Adult Comorbidity Evaluation-27 (ACE-27) score of 3 ( p = 0.048), tumor class T3 ( p = 0.005), lymph node class N2 ( p = 0.014), or thrombocyte count of 360 (× 109 L) or more ( p = 0.001) were more likely to die within 6 months of surgery. Of these 36 patients, 27 (75%) had a complication warranting hospital care and most ( n = 22, 61%) had several complications. Conclusions: Early postoperative mortality most frequently affects patients aged 75 years and above, with a high ACE-27 score, advanced tumor stage, or high thrombocyte count. Therefore, preoperative assessment and patient selection should have a crucial role in this patient population.

Aims: Many procedures in ear, nose, and throat (ENT) day surgery are carried out under local anesthesia in Finland, whereas many other countries use general anesthesia. We investigated overstay and readmission rates in local and general anesthesia at Helsinki University Hospital. Material and Methods: We conducted a retrospective study on ENT (n = 1011) day surgery patients within a 3-month period using the hospital’s surgery database to collect data pertaining to anesthesia, overstays, readmissions, and contacts within 30 days of surgery. Objectives: We examined the effect of American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) class, age, sex, type of procedure, and anesthesia type on overstay, contact, and readmission rates. Results: A multivariable logistic regression model included ASA class, age, sex, type of procedure, and anesthesia (local vs general). Sex, age, and type of procedure had an effect on the outcomes of overstay, readmission, or contact. With general anesthesia, 3.2% (n = 23) had an overstay or readmission compared to 1.4% (n = 4) after local anesthesia. This was mainly explained by the number of study outcomes in tonsillar surgery that was performed only in general anesthesia. Conclusions: Day surgery could be done safely using local anesthesia, as the number of study outcomes was no greater than in general anesthesia. Sex, type of procedure, and age affected the rate of study outcomes, but ASA class and anesthesia form did not. Our overstay, contact, and readmission rates are on the same level, or lower, than in international studies.

Background: The weekend effect, the phenomenon of patients admitted at the weekend having a higher mortality risk, has been widely investigated and documented in both elective and emergency patients. Research on the issue is scarce in Europe, with the exception of the United Kingdom. We examined the situation in Helsinki University Hospital over a 14-year period from a specialty-specific approach. Materials and methods: We collected the data for all patient visits for 2000-2013, selecting patients with in-hospital care in the university hospital and extracting patients that died during their hospital stay or within 30 days of discharge. These patients were categorized according to urgency of care and specialty. Results: A total of 1,542,230 in-patients (853,268 emergency patients) met the study criteria, with 47,122 deaths in-hospital or within 30 days of discharge. Of 12 specialties, we found a statistically significant weekend effect for in-hospital mortality in 7 specialties (emergency admissions) and 4 specialties (elective admissions); for 30-day post-discharge mortality in 1 specialty (emergency admissions) and 2 specialties (elective admissions). Surgery, internal medicine, neurology, and gynecology and obstetrics were most sensitive to the weekend effect. Conclusions: The study confirms a weekend effect for both elective and emergency admissions in most specialties. Reducing the number of weekend elective procedures may be necessary. More disease-specific research is needed to find the diagnoses most susceptible. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

This case series investigates the frequency and type of SARS-CoV-2 nasopharyngeal test complications in Helsinki, Finland.

Tiivistelmä Hammasperäinen poskiontelotulehdus määritellään paikalliseksi poskiontelon limakalvon paksuuntumiseksi, joka liittyy tulehtuneeseen tai laajasti hoidettuun hampaaseen tai suukirurgiseen toimenpiteeseen. Hammasperäinen syy saattaa olla taustalla 15 %:ssa poskiontelotulehduksista, erityisryhmien osalta jopa 40 %:ssa. Hampaan tukikudos- ja juurikanavatulehdukset aiheuttavat yli puolet hammasperäisistä poskiontelotulehduksista. Hammasperäiset tulehdukset ovat yleensä anaerobivoittoisia ja polymikrobisia. Tyypillisimmät oireet ovat toispuolinen märkäinen erite sekä tukkoisuus, paha maku tai haju, toispuolinen poskikipu tai -arkuus, liman valuminen nenänielusta, epämukava tunne kasvoissa tai ikenissä ja hammassärky. Kuvantamisessa käytetään panoraamakuvausta, intraoraalikuvia ja kartiokeilatietokonetomografiaa, joihin liittyy kuitenkin virhelähteitä. Hoito onnistuu, jos suun tulehdus hoidetaan. Hammashoidon lisäksi tarvitaan yleensä mikrobilääkehoito, usein poskiontelopunktio ja joskus sivuontelokirurgiaa.