Regional anaesthesia for cleft lip surgery in a developing world setting.

Background: The role of regional anaesthesia in cleft lip surgery in the developing world is not well documented.

Method: A retrospective chart review of 100 patients aged >14 years who had cleft lip surgery during an Operation Smile South Africa (OSSA) volunteer surgical programme in Madagascar during 2007 and 2008. The nerve blocks used included a bilateral infraorbital nerve block, a dorsalnasal nerve block and a septal block supplemented with peri-incisional local in_ltration.