Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42749784›Full record

ArticleEuropean archives of oto-rhino-laryngology : official journal of the European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology - Head and Neck Surgery2026

Inpatient morbidity and structural care burden in oropharyngeal carcinoma in Germany: a nationwide cross-institutional EHR analysis using an AI-enabled data network.

Sabine Eichhorn, Anne Stöckert, Franz Niklas Mitze, Maximilian Bucksch, Eren Erdogan, Inga Marte Charlott Seuthe, Mehdi Dastur, Jonas Jae-Hyun Park

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Article in European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology : official journal of the European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

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3 · Its place in the literature

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Sabine EichhornDepartment of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, University of Witten/Herdecke, St. Josefs-Hospital, Hagen, Germany. sabine.eichhorn@uni-wh.de.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7877-7977
Anne StöckertDepartment of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, University of Witten/Herdecke, St. Josefs-Hospital, Hagen, Germany.
Franz Niklas MitzeDepartment of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, University of Witten/Herdecke, St. Josefs-Hospital, Hagen, Germany.
Maximilian BuckschDepartment of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, University of Witten/Herdecke, St. Josefs-Hospital, Hagen, Germany.
Eren ErdoganDepartment of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, University of Witten/Herdecke, St. Josefs-Hospital, Hagen, Germany.
Inga Marte Charlott SeutheDepartment of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, University of Witten/Herdecke, St. Josefs-Hospital, Hagen, Germany.
Mehdi DasturTiplu GmbH, Hamburg, Berlin, Germany.
Jonas Jae-Hyun ParkDepartment of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, University of Witten/Herdecke, St. Josefs-Hospital, Hagen, Germany.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeThis study aims to characterize hospitalization-level morbidity and care burden associated with oropharyngeal carcinoma (OPC) in Germany and assess the contribution of terminology-based extraction from narrative electronic health record (EHR) documentation beyond structured administrative coding.

methodsThis nationwide retrospective observational study analyzed inpatient data from 96 German tertiary care hospitals (2016-2022). OPC hospitalizations were identified using ICD-10-GM principal diagnosis codes. Treatment patterns, morbidity indicators, and resource utilization measures were derived from OPS procedural codes, structured clinical variables, and terminology-based extraction from predefined narrative EHR sections. Analyses were conducted at the hospitalization level.

resultsAmong 13,925 OPC hospitalizations, major pharyngeal resections were documented in 9.0% of cases. The proportion reconstructed with microvascular free flaps more than doubled, while resections without reconstruction declined. Robotic-assisted surgery was documented in 0.1% of OPC hospitalizations. Mechanical ventilation was documented in 3.7% of cases, and 19.7% had documentation indicative of tracheostomy. Median hemoglobin decreased during hospitalization, and documented RBC transfusion use increased descriptively from 5.4% in 2016 to 7.6% in 2022. The in-hospital mortality rate was 2.8%. Terminology-based EHR extraction identified additional documentation of selected comorbidities and morbidity markers beyond structured coding alone.

conclusionHospitalization-level OPC care in German tertiary hospitals involves substantial inpatient care burden, including complex reconstruction, airway-related morbidity, and physiologic morbidity markers. Combining structured administrative data with terminology-based extraction from narrative EHR documentation provided additional routine-data markers beyond coding alone. These findings should be interpreted as complementary hospitalization-level information rather than as validated clinical endpoints or evidence of causal treatment effects.

Indexed as

Artificial IntelligenceElectronic health recordsHealth services researchHospitalizationMicrovascular reconstructionOropharyngeal neoplasms

Identifiers

PMID42749784

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.