Morbidity and mortality of mandibular resection for malignant disease.

Twenty-nine per cent of patients undergoing mandibular resection had an entirely uncomplicated postoperative course. Local complications occurred in 54 per cent and systemic complication in 35 per cent. Increasing the extent of resection or an additional procedure, such as radical neck dissection, increased the local complication rate. Operation in fully irradiated tissue produced an increase in the proportion of life-threatening complications. Systemic complications were responsible for 80 per cent of the postoperative deaths.