Abstract
Objective:
To evaluate patients’ experiences of shortened hospitalization in relation to bone grafting of unilateral alveolar clefts with mandibular symphyseal bone grafts.
Design:
Prospective cohort questionnaire study.
Setting:
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark.
Patients:
Thirty-nine (male n = 26, female n = 13) patients with unilateral residual clefts after primary reconstruction, mean age 10.4 years.
Interventions:
All patients underwent a standardized procedure with closure of the alveolar defect using mandibular symphyseal bone grafts. Patients were discharged within a day after surgery. Within 24 hours after discharge from surgery, patients and their parents filled in a 14-item psychometric questionnaire assessing the quality of their recovery. For all questions, a visual analogue scale (VAS) (0-10) was used.
Main Outcome Measure:
Patients’ experience of shortened hospitalization in relation to secondary bone grafting of alveolar defects. Factors influencing the overall experience were measured using a VAS scale.
Results:
A significant correlation between “Information from the hospital” and feeling worried and anxious was found (P = .04). Additionally, the ability to sleep correlated with pain (P = .003) and with nausea (P = .001).
Conclusions:
Although this study included a limited number of patients, the findings suggest that treatment of alveolar residual cleft with bone grafting from the mandibular symphyseal region in a day care surgery setting is characterized by very high patient satisfaction.
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