Role of reconstructive surgery in the management of head and neck cancer: A national outcomes analysis of 11,841 reconstructions S.A.R. Nouraei a,b, *, S.E. Middleton c , A. Hudovsky d , O.A. Branford e , C. Lau f , P.M. Clarke a , S.H. Wood e , P. Aylin g , A. Mace a , N. Jallali e , A. Darzi h a Department of Otolaryngology e Head & Neck Surgery, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, Charing Cross Hospital, London, W6 8RF, United Kingdom b National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (2013) Scholar, 10 Spring Gardens, London, SW1A 2BU, United Kingdom c Dr Foster Intelligence Ltd, 3 Dorset Rise, Ground Floor, London, EC4Y 8EN, United Kingdom d Department of Clinical Coding, Charing Cross Hospital, London, W6 8RF, United Kingdom e Department of Plastic Surgery, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, Charing Cross Hospital, London, W6 8RF, United Kingdom f Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, London, 235 Euston Road, London, NW1 2BU, United Kingdom g Dr Foster Unit at Imperial College, Department of Primary Care and Public Health, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, Reynolds Building, St Dunstan’s Road, London, W6 8RP, United Kingdom h Academic Surgical Unit, Dept. of Surgery & Cancer, Imperial College London, St Mary’s Hospital, London, W2 1NY, United Kingdom Received 5 September 2014; accepted 11 November 2014 KEYWORDS Head and neck cancer; Reconstructive surgery; Health informatics; Summary Background: The quality of head and neck cancer reconstruction in England is not known. Hospital administrative data provides details of treatment within the English National Health Service and may be used for national outcomes analysis. Methods: An algorithm for identifying head and neck surgery with flap-based reconstruction from administrative data was constructed and validated against information from three cancer units. The validated algorithm was applied to 2003e2013 national activity. * Corresponding author. Department of ENT Surgery, Charing Cross Hospital, London, W6 8RF, United Kingdom. Tel.: þ44 7794 569862; fax: þ44 0207 1831655. E-mail address: RN@cantab.net (S.A.R. Nouraei). + MODEL Please cite this article in press as: Nouraei SAR, et al., Role of reconstructive surgery in the management of head and neck cancer: A national outcomes analysis of 11,841 reconstructions, Journal of Plastic, Reconstructive & Aesthetic Surgery (2014), http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1016/j.bjps.2014.11.011 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bjps.2014.11.011 1748-6815/ª 2014 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons. Journal of Plastic, Reconstructive & Aesthetic Surgery (2014) xx,1e10