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Background: Maxillofacial fractures constitute a substantial proportion of trauma globally. The main causes worldwide are road traffic accidents (RTAs), falls, assaults, sports, firearm injuries and industrial trauma. The highest incidence is commonly seen in the young age group with majority being male. The most common site in maxillofacial injuries is the mandible followed by the zygomatic complex, maxilla, and alveolar process. Maxillofacial trauma also poses a significant socioeconomic burden on affected individuals. Hence appropriate treatment and prevention of these morbidities and possible mortality is necessary. This study is therefore aimed at analyzing the prevalence, pattern of presentation of maxillofacial injuries at Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) in Western Nigeria.Methods: A retrospective review of 182 patients diagnosed and treated for maxillofacial injuries at the Oral and Maxillofacial Department of the LASUTH was conducted. Data were obtained from clinical notes and records of radiological findings noting patient's age, gender, etiologic factors (RTA, assault, sport, and fall), anatomic site of injury and different definitive treatment modalities. The data were analyzed by SPSS version 20 using various descriptive statistical tools. Mean and standard deviation were calculated for quantitative variable like age while frequency and percentage were calculated for qualitative variables like gender and site of fracture.Results: Majority of patients were male (72.0%) with a male to female ratio of 1:0.4. Most patients were between 31 and 40 (34.1%) years of age. RTA accounting for 73.1% of the injuries was the most common cause for maxillofacial injury followed by assault (19.2%). Majority of injuries due to RTA were of motorcycles accidents (33.6%). The most common sites of fracture out of 226 sites were in the mandible (62.8%, P = 0.003). Among the mandibular fracture sites, 28.2% affected the body of the mandible. Majority (31.9%) of the studied patients presented within 24 h (≤ 1 day). Out of the 182 patients, 68.1% were treated by close reduction.Conclusions: RTA represented the major etiological factor of maxillofacial injuries. The mandible remains the most affected bone of the facial skeleton. Closed reduction is the most common approach used for treatment.

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Background:This paper seeks to investigate the incidence of short-term postoperative complications in children and adult patients undergoing primary surgery of cleft lip and palate.Patients and Methods:One hundred and fifteen patients consisting of children (below 12 years) and adult (12 years and above) who were operated for both cleft lip and palate within a 2-year period at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital were reviewed postoperatively at 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year intervals, respectively. The complications encountered within the periods of the review were recorded.Results:One hundred and twenty surgeries were performed on 115 patients (85 children 30 Adults). A total of 43 complications (31 in children and 12 in adults) were recorded over the study period. Eighteen (41.9%) of these complications were noticed in unilateral cleft lip repair, while 12 (27.9%) and 13 (30.2%) complications were observed in bilateral cleft lip and cleft palate surgeries, respectively. A higher complication rate (72.0%) was recorded in children compared with adults. Major complications (13.9%) were, however, observed more in adults than children.Conclusion:Although every surgeon attempts to prevent complications during surgery, they may still occur. The high complication rate observed in our study may be due to a small sample size. General complications observed among children are due to cross infection during a hospital stay, contributing immensely to the higher rate of complications in children. Moreover, this may be reduced by short hospital stay following surgery. We also advocate early contact with children with cleft, and early surgical intervention in other to prevent some of the major complications encountered in adult patients.

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