Current Orthognathic Surgery Practice Patterns Among Academic OMS

Abstract

Objective

Currently there is variation in perioperative care of orthognathic surgery patients and limited clinical practice guidelines. The current orthognathic surgery practice patterns among US academic OMFS training centers have not been described. The purpose of this study is to describe the practice patterns among US academic OMFS training centers.

Design

The study design is cross-sectional. Data was collected through a survey of the sample.

Setting

OMFS programs in the US.

Participants

Academic OMFS. 573 surgeons were contacted and 85 responses were received.

Main Outcome Measure

Descriptive and bivariate statistics were reported.

Results

Respondents were 87% male and worked in full-time academic (80%), part-time academic (19%), or military settings (1%). Thirty-one percent have practiced for 30 years or more and then 29% with 11–20 years, 18% with 21–30 years, 12% with 6–10 years and 11% with 1–5 years. Twenty-six percent of respondents perform 20–40 orthognathic surgeries a year, 22% perform less than 20 surgeries a year, 21% perform 40–60 surgeries per year, and 19% perform more than 100 surgeries per year. Intraoperatively, 48% of surgeons request a mean arterial pressure of 60–64 mmHg, 25% utilize tranexamic acid (TXA), 85% report a blood loss of less than 400 milliliters, and 93% report a blood transfusion rate of <1%.

Conclusion

There are variations in orthognathic surgery practice patterns with limited clinical practice guidelines. Only 13 of the 32 survey questions had a single response holding a simple majority. This study demonstrates the need for further research and evidence-based protocols and decision making.