[The need for clinical guidelines for the comprehensive management of patients with cleft lip and palate]

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Medicine
• Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
• Clinical Guideline Development

Background:

• Cleft lip and palate treatment requires standardized clinical guidelines for optimal infant care.
• Current international and Colombian literature reveals a scarcity of comprehensive treatment protocols for pediatric cleft lip and palate.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify and evaluate existing clinical guidelines for managing cleft lip and/or palate in children under one year of age.
• To assess the availability and scope of treatment guidelines published in Colombia and internationally.

Main Methods:

• A systematic literature search was performed across PubMed, Lilacs, and Scielo databases.
• Keywords included "guideline cleft lip and palate" and Spanish equivalents; pediatric hospital websites in Colombia were also consulted.

Main Results:

• Out of 190 initially identified papers, only two met the criteria for clinical guidelines.
• The majority of reviewed literature was either irrelevant, focused on non-treatment aspects, or represented disciplinary/interdisciplinary approaches rather than comprehensive guidelines.

Conclusions:

• There is a significant lack of published clinical guidelines for cleft lip and palate treatment in infants.
• The absence of unified criteria leads to varied intervention approaches and highlights the necessity for consensus-driven, evidence-based treatment protocols.