Abstract
In cleft lip and/or palate patients with the complex congenital heart diseases, surgical repair of the cleft lip and/or palate has been postponed after the open heart surgery because the heart problem of the patient might cause more complications associated with anesthesia and surgery. There has been little report about experiences in the surgical management of these patients and optimal time of surgical intervention. Authors are introducing the experiences of performing corrective surgery of cleft lip and/or palate in the patients with congenital heart diseases before and after the open heart surgery. We managed five patients from May 1992 to March 2004. Two patients were male and the rest were female. One of them had cleft lip alone and others had cleft lip and palate. Two of them underwent delayed cleft lip and/or palate surgery after open heart surgery, and the rest had immediate intervention for cleft lip and/or palate. There was no complication during the operation and postoperative period. There would be no need to delay the corrective surgery of the cleft lip and/or palate after the open heart surgery, if solid medical team approach was available with the pediatric cardiologist and the anesthesiologist.