Postoperative wound infections, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, and cancer recurrence in patients with oral cavity cancer undergoing surgical resection

Abstract Background It is unclear whether postoperative wound infections after head and neck cancer surgery are associated with cancer progression. Methods Patients undergoing surgery for oral cancer from 1998 to 2011 were reviewed. Univariable analyses and multivariable were performed. Propensity scores were used to create matched cohorts for infection and non-infection groups. Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratios (NLR) were determined prior to surgery and at the time of infection. Results Of 551 patients with oral cancer treated with surgery, 98 developed wound infections (18%). Tumor factors associated with wound infections included higher T and N category, extranodal extension, depth of invasion, lymphovascular and perineural invasion (p  Conclusions Patients with wound infections have more adverse pathologic features. However, wound infection was not associated with poorer cancer outcomes although a trend towards increased distant metastases should be investigated.