Objective: To evaluate the facial morphology characteristics of patients with complete unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCCLPs) who had undergone cleft palate repair at different times.
Design: This study included 46 nonsyndromic UCCLPs and 38 age and sex matched non-cleft patients. 35 cephalometric measurements were used to evaluate the facial morphology. Student's t-test, one-way ANOVA and rank sum tests were used for comparison. Significant difference was defined at 95% level.
Results: The data showed that UCCLPs who had palatoplasty between 7 and 12 years had greater PMP-A, PMP-ANS, Ba-ANS, Ba-A, Ba-N-ANS than those operated on before 4 years of age, and UCCLPs who had palatoplasty at 4-12 years had smaller Y-axis angle than those operated on before 4 years of age.
Conclusions: The maxillary sagittal length increased gradually as von Langenbeck repair was delayed. UCCLPs who underwent palate repair using von Langenbeck technique at 4-12 years had a more protrusive maxilla and less clockwise rotated mandible than those repaired before 4 years. UCCLPs operated using the von Langenbeck technique at 4-12 years had better head-face morphology than those operated on before 4 years. There was no difference in facial morphology among UCCLPs with palate repair at 4-12 years.
Copyright © 2012 European Assocation for Cranio-Maxillo-Facial Surgery. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.