Rethinking the Rule of 10s: Early Cleft Lip Repair Improves Weight Gain.

OBJECTIVE: This study compares patients undergoing early cleft lip repair (ECLR) (<3-months) and traditional lip repair (TLR) (3-6 months) with/without nasoalveolar molding (NAM) to evaluate the effects of surgical timing on weight gain in hopes of guiding future treatment paradigms.

DESIGN: Retrospective review.

SETTING: Children's Hospital of Los Angeles, California.

PATIENT, PARTICIPANTS: A retrospective chart review evaluated patients who underwent ECLR or TLR ± NAM from November 2009 through January 2020.

INTERVENTIONS: No intervention was performed.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Patient demographics, birth and medical history, perioperative variables, and complications were collected. Infant weights and age-based percentiles were recorded at birth, surgery, 8-weeks, 6-months, 12-months, and 24-months postoperatively. The main outcomes were weight change and weight percentile amongst ECLR and TLR ± NAM groups.

RESULTS: 107 patients met inclusion criteria: ECLR, n  = 51 (47.6%); TLR + NAM, n  = 35 (32.7%); and TLR-NAM, n  = 21 (19.6%). ECLR patients had significantly greater changes in weight from surgery to 8-weeks and from surgery to 24-months postoperatively compared with both TLR ± NAM ( P  < .05). Age-matched weights in the ECLR group were significantly greater than TLR ± NAM at multiple time points postoperatively ( P  < .05).

CONCLUSIONS: ECLR significantly increased patient weights 24-months postoperatively when compared to TLR ± NAM. Specifically compared to TLR-NAM, ECLR weights were significantly greater at all time points past 6-months postoperatively. The results of this study demonstrate that ECLR can mitigate feeding difficulties and malnutrition traditionally seen in patients with cleft lip.