D102. Cleft Lip Repair Compared Between Inpatient and Outpatient Surgeries: A Multi-surgeon Experience

PURPOSE: There is controversy about cleft lip (CL) repair being performed as an inpatient or outpatient surgery. This study's aim is to investigate the authors' institutional experience with CL repair to see if there is an increase in complications, emergency department (ED) visits, or readmissions when performing CL repair in an outpatient setting. METHODS: This study reviewed patients under one year of age who underwent CL repair between 2012 and 2023 at the authors' institution. Data collected included patient demographics, perioperative details, ED visits and readmissions within thirty days of surgery, and complications. RESULTS: 145 patients met inclusion measures. When the surgery was performed as outpatient, there was no significant difference in returning to the ED (p = 0.767) or readmission to the hospital (p = 0.447) within thirty days as compared to an inpatient procedure. Outpatients did not have more postoperative complications (p = 0.698) than inpatients. Bilateral cleft lips were more likely to be performed in the inpatient setting (p = 0.001). Inpatients had a significantly lower weight at time of repair (p = 0.033) Patients with a respiratory (p =.006), gastrointestinal (p = 0.004), or hematologic (p = 0.013) comorbidity had a higher readmission rate. Patients were also significantly more likely to be readmitted if they had a younger gestational age at (p = 0.005). CONCLUSION: There was no increased return to ED or readmission for patients undergoing inpatient versus outpatient CL repair. CL repair can be performed safely in an outpatient setting with careful patient selection.