Surgical site infection after head and neck surgery may be life threatening and induces increasing in healthcare cost. The objective of this present study was to identify predictive factors associated to surgical site infection in head and neck cancer surgery.

Numerous predictive factors were checked for univariate case-control and multivariate analysis. This retrospective study included 71 patients that have been treated for cancer of the upper aerodigestive tract (UADT) during a one year period (2010). Control group were selected in this same perdio with a 1:2 ratio according to epidemiological profile and predictive factor for infection. Surgical site infection was defined according to the CDC classification. NNIS index was calculated.

The incidence of surgical site infection was 15,5 %. Only the T3-T4 stages were identified as an independent predictive factor (P=0,04) on multivariate analysis. The NNIS index, used by the Center for disease control and prevention (CDC) as the main predictive composite criteria for prediction of Surgical site infection was not correlated to a higher risk of infection.

This study suggests that the current NNIS index may be not suitable for prediction of surgical site infection in UADT cancer. A specific predictive index should include the initial tumor stage for HNC surgery and could lead to a better adaptation of specific prophylactic antibiotic treatment.