Risk-adjusted comparative audit. Is Possum applicable to head and neck surgery?

Possum (the physiological and operative severity score for the enumeration of mortality) is used in many surgical specialities for comparative audit. We investigated its validity in relation to head and neck surgery by retrospectively scoring 301 operative interventions. We also applied the P-Possum (Portsmouth Possum) equation for mortality. We compared our observed with the predicted outcomes. We introduced two new variables, radiotherapy and previous surgery to the operative site, to test their association with outcome. We found that Possum is valid for morbidity but predicts more accurately for high-risk than for low-risk groups. Neither Possum or P-Possum accurately predicts mortality. Radiotherapy and previous surgery were both significant for the development of postoperative complications (P = 0.002, P = 0.007 respectively) and are worthy of inclusion in a Possum score for head and neck surgery.