Early outcome of noma surgery.

INTRODUCTION: Reconstructive noma surgery is performed on many short-term medical missions. The treatment outcome, however, has rarely been studied.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: We studied complications and clinical outcome of reconstructive noma surgery performed during four short-term medical missions. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine which factors influenced treatment outcome.

RESULTS: A total of 74 treatments were performed on 63 patients. We found a complication rate of 64% (n=47) and a success percentage of 59% (n=44). Complexity of treatment procedure and occurrence of complete trismus were independent significant factors negatively influencing the outcome. Only 14 of the 36 complex procedures had a good outcome.

CONCLUSIONS: Our study is one of the first to evaluate the early clinical outcome of reconstructive noma surgery in short-term medical missions. It shows that the outcome is not always favourable, particularly in complex reconstructions and in the subgroup of patients with complete trismus.