9-Year Clinical Audit on Complications of Cleft Lip and Palate Charity Surgeries in China Shenzhen Area

Background: In developing countries, charity cleft surgical mission is always operated by sporadic surgical teams without systematic follow up and quality assurance. In the past few decades, many mission projects have been held regularly in China. The purpose of this audit was a retrospective analysis of a 9-year cleft lip and palate charity project operated in a tertiary hospital in China Shenzhen Area to evaluate perioperative and postoperative complications. Nevertheless, understanding the risk profile is essential for establishing a sustainable in-house cleft service in Shenzhen. Methods: A detailed analysis of hospital centralized record in the The University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital (HKUSZH) was reviewed since the first charity project held in 2015. The parameters of this audit were focused on perioperative complications including anesthesia related problems, early postoperative complications in patients who underwent primary or secondary cleft surgeries. A total of 430 consecutive admitted cases of 311 non-syndromic cleft lip & palate patients were enrolled into the charity project from June 2015 to July 2024. The main anesthesia related complications that occurred during general anesthesia were respiratory tract problems, while intraoperative complication was excessive bleeding, so as wound local infection and reaction were the main early postoperative complications. Results: In our 9-year clinical audit of 430 cleft lip and palate charity surgeries in Shenzhen, we observed no mortalities and a anesthesia-related complication rate of 1.16%. Specific intraoperative complications included excessive bleeding, while early postoperative issues were dominated by wound infections. The fistula rate of 18.7% post palate repair and the average hospital stay of 3.71 days complete the profile of our surgical outcomes. These data underscore the project’s efficacy and offer a reference for international cleft missions aiming for safe and efficient surgical care. Conclusions: This study provides a thorough data review of the complications in the past 9 years charity missions for cleft lip and palate surgery in a well-structured hospital infrastructure and logistic support by local surgical team. There were no perioperative or postoperative death during the study period and the overall short-term complication rate was low. Therefore, it could be a reference model for other international cleft mission in developing country for a safe and efficient service in future.