title: A retrospective analysis of anesthetic experience in 2917 patients posted for cleft lip and palate repair.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Anaesthesia during cleft lip and palate surgery carries a high risk and difficult airway management in children.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  to study the perioperative anesthetic complications in poor children with cleft abnormalities.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective analysis.
  
  
  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.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesiology, Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences, HIHT University, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India.
authors.forename: Parul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jindal
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesiology, Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences, HIHT University, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India.
authors.forename: Gurjeet
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Khurana
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesiology, Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences, HIHT University, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India.
authors.forename: Deepali
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesiology, Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences, HIHT University, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India.
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Sharma
keywords: Anesthesia techniques; cleft lip; complications; palate; perioperative period; smile train