Abstract: Objective To explore the risk factors of postoperative pulmonary embolism in patients with head and neck malignancies, so as to provide clinical reference for the prevention of head and neck malignancies complicated with acute pulmonary embolism (APE). Methods With the case-control study method of 1∶3 ratio design, the clinical data of 14 patients with pulmonary embolism after head and neck cancer surgery in Beijing Tongren Hospital from January 2019 to October 2020 and 42 patients with head and neck cancer matched by disease, age and gender were collected, including age, gender, body mass index, smoking history, combined with basic diseases. The independent risk factors of head and neck malignant tumor complicated with pulmonary embolism were analyzed with conditional Logistic regression. Results There was no systematic difference in smoking history, body mass index, diabetes mellitus, coronary heart disease, cerebral infarction, blood sugar, estimated glomerular filtration rate, blood lipid, uric acid, blood potassium, preoperative application of low molecular weight heparin, perioperative blood pressure, perioperative volume and postoperative Caprini score in two groups (P> 0.05), but in combination with hypertension, the difference in operation time was statistically significant (P < 0.05). Further conditional Logistic regression analysis showed that hypertension and prolonged operation time were independent risk factors of pulmonary embolism in patients with head and neck tumors. Conclusion The head and neck malignant tumor complicated with hypertension and long operation time increased the risk of embolism. Improving these risk factors could reduce the occurrence of such complications. It should be the key prevention and treatment object of pulmonary embolism.

Key words: head and neck malignant tumor, pulmonary embolism, clinical features, risk factor analysis