Incidence of delirium and postoperative outcomes in head neck cancer surgical patients- A prospective observational study

Patients undergoing major head and neck onco-surgeries can have significant postoperative morbidity. Delirium, a neuropsychiatric syndrome, is definedas a disturbance in attention, awareness, and cognition that develops over a short period oftime and fluctuates in severity. It is transient and usually reversible. Delirium in critically care population is reported between 20 to 40%. It can be either hyperactive, hypoactive or mixed type. It is important to assess delirium as it can have negative impact on the outcome and recovery from critical illness. We are using the CAM-ICU score to detect delirium in out population. We will study the incidence of delirium, the impact in post op outcome and risk factors associated with it. The data will be collected over a period of 1 year in ACTREC, Tata Memorial Centre. The data will be collected from the case record form and there will be no direct patient contact. Data will be maintained securely and will not be disclosed at any point during the study.