Prophylactic Antibiotics After Cleft Lip and Palate Reconstruction: A Review From a Global Health Perspective

Orofacial clefts are common congenital deformities. Global initiatives have increased access to cleft care and reconstruction surgeries for cleft lip with or without cleft palate (CL/P), but there is no consensus on the use of postoperative prophylactic antibiotics. We conducted a narrative review using PubMed on the use of postoperative prophylactic antibiotics in CL/P surgery. A search of PubMed identified 30 potentially relevant articles, of which 15 were reviewed. There was no consensus among surgeons on prescribing patterns, but there was limited evidence that postoperative antibiotics reduce palatal fistulas. Notably, microbiological screening is not used to guide the choice of antimicrobial or to predict postoperative complications. Based on limited available data, we cannot make any strong evidence-based recommendations on prescribing postoperative antibiotics; however, we recommend that each cleft surgeon performing these procedures in lower-income countries without access to tertiary care centers consider the cost-benefit analysis of prescribing antimicrobials postoperatively, without antimicrobial screening, which showed no benefit.