Current state and future perspectives of craniofacial surgery research: systematic review

The term “evidence-based medicine,” first used in the 1980s in Canada, is defined as “the conscious, explicit, and critical use of the best available evidence to make medical decisions regarding the care of individual patients.” This study sought to estimate the viability of evi ­ dence­based medicine in modern craniofacial surgery practice 44 years after Paul Tessier first started it by showcasing his initial experience in that area. With the goal of identifying the best available evidence, the research focused on 5 central topics in this field: cleft lip and/or palate, orthognathic surgery, craniosynostoses, facial fractures, and hemifacial microsomia. This study used the Cochrane Library, the main database of evidence­based medicine. No Cochrane reviews were found for orthognathic surgery, craniosynostoses, or hemifacial microsomia. Similarly, no narrative reviews were found during the searched. No non­Cochrane reviews were found for facial fractures or craniosynostosis. The resul­ ting number of reviews for each topic was low. A higher number of studies with clinical scientific evidence were found regarding facial fractures and cleft lip and/or palate. It was difficult to find a substantial number of articles on most of these topics when the Cochrane Library was used. As such, less confidence must be placed on studies with low levels of evidence and greater efforts are needed to service the need for good studies, which may gui de clinical practice scientifically.