Comparative Study of Bilateral Suprazygomatic Maxillary Nerve Block and Surgical Site Infiltration for Perioperative Analgesia in Children Undergoing Cleft Palate Repair

Congenital cleft palate (CP) occurs in children at a rate of about 1.5 per 10 000 births, Early surgery is necessary to reduce phonation and feeding difficulties and reduce complications such as frequent sinusitis and other respiratory tract infections. The surgical procedure can be complicated by airway obstruction and respiratory complications. CP is painful in the first 24-48 h following surgery.

Different treatment modalities have been used for reducing or ameliorating the pain following cleft palate repair. These include opioids, paracetamol, non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), surgical site infiltration and various nerve blocks However, the analgesic drugs may provide inadequate analgesia and have side effects such as respiratory depression and bleeding. The inherent disadvantages of analgesic pharmacotherapy in children promoted interest in nerve blocking techniques for operative analgesia. These became established in paediatric anaesthetic practice with the accumulating evidence of advantages such as postoperative pain relief, reduced use of potent narcotics, rapid return of alertness, early feeding and moving about, and early discharge in day care surgery.

The maxillary nerve, the second division of the trigeminal nerve, leaves the cranial part of the face through the foramen rotundum, and then passes forward and laterally through the pterygopalatine fossa, at the bottom of the pterygomaxillary fossa, and reaches the floor of the orbit by the infra- orbital foramen. This sensory nerve supplies innervation of the lower eyelid, the upper lip, the skin between them, the roof of the mouth, and the palate.

Maxillary nerve block through the infrazygomatic route, used for the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia in adults, permits anesthesia of the entire palatine territory. However, this nerve block has lead to complications such as orbital puncture, intracranial injection, maxillary artery puncture, or posterior pharyngeal wall injury In adults, approach to the suprazygomatic MN block (SMB) seems to minimize the risks of the infrazygomatic route providing effective anaesthesia of the entire sensory territory of the MN and its terminal branches.

Bupivacaine, a long-acting amide local anaesthetic has been used widely in infants, particularly for infiltration of wound-edges and nerve blocking.