The Throat Pack Debate: A Review of Current Practice in UK and Ireland Cleft Centers.

The reported UK and Irish experience demonstrates that three-quarters of units routinely use packs. Notably, a quarter of respondents to the survey have experience of an incident of throat pack retention. Nevertheless, the majority of respondents considered the perceived risk of retaining a pack to be low. The growing use of microcuffed ETTs in UK cleft units paired with a low incidence of perioperative complications when a throat pack is not introduced might prompt cleft surgeons to review routine pharyngeal packing.