Early Feeding After Oral Cavity Reconstruction

In this single-arm non-inferiority study, the study team will aim to evaluate the safety of early feeding in patients with oral cavity reconstruction who are allowed to eat by mouth on post-operative day 1. Traditionally, surgeons have opted to delay the time to oral feeding in oral cavity reconstruction because of concern that an early oral diet may stress intraoral suture lines and lead to the development of salivary leaks. However, evidence from small studies evaluating oral feeding timing in patients who underwent total laryngectomy suggests that there is no increased risk associated with early oral feeding. As such, the study team will aim to determine whether early feeding on postoperative day 1 is non-inferior with respect to the development of orocutaneous fistula to the standard care as described in the literature. There are roughly 50-60 oral cavity reconstructive surgeries performed at Mount Sinai each year - as such it is not feasible to recruit two study arms for direct comparison. In addition to salivary leak rates, the study team will report outcomes related to the cohort's wound healing, length of time in the hospital, length of time requiring an enteral tube feeds, swallow evaluation information, and the results of patient reported outcomes measures.