A retrospective analysis of anesthetic experience in 2917 patients posted for cleft lip and palate repair.

Context: Anaesthesia during cleft lip and palate surgery carries a high risk and difficult airway management in children.

Aim: to study the perioperative anesthetic complications in poor children with cleft abnormalities.

Settings And Design: Retrospective analysis.

Materials And Methods: This retrospective audit was conducted on 2917 patients of smile train project under going general anesthesia for cleft lip and palate from January 2007 to December 2010. Demographic, pre-anesthetic status, anesthetic management and anesthesia complications were recorded. Chi-square test was used to assess the relation between patient factors and occurrence of complications.

Results: Of the 3044, we were able to procure complete data of 2917 patients. Most of children presented with anemia 251 (35%), 202 (29%) had eosinophilia while 184 (26%) had upper respiratory tract infection. The incidence of perioperative complications was 8.19% of which 33.7% critical incidents occurred during the induction time. The most common complication was laryngospasm 77 (40.9%) followed by difficult intubation 64 (30.9%). There was no mortality.

Conclusion: Since these procedures do not characterize an emergency, most of the perioperative complications can be prevented by following the routine installed by the institute and smile train protocols.