title: The incidence and relationship of cervical spine anomalies in patients with cleft lip and/or palate.
abstract: The relationship, incidence, and distribution of cervical spine anomalies were assessed in 468 patients with cleft lip and/or palate. The patients were placed into four groups: lip and/or alveolar; complete unilateral or bilateral; isolated palatal; and soft palate or submucous clefts. Cervical anomalies were observed in 22% of the cleft patients and in 7% of the noncleft group. Patients with soft palate and submucous clefts had the highest incidence of vertebral anomalies (45%), whereas patients with cleft lip and/or alveolus had an incidence similar to the noncleft group. Patients with complete unilateral and bilateral clefts also had a higher incidence (15.6% to 19.0%) of anomalies than the noncleft group. Cervical anomalies occurred primarily in the occipital-C1-C2 region. The possible implications of these findings are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, School of Dental Medicine, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington 06032.
authors.forename: B B
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Horswell
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001848:Bone Diseases, Developmental / Q000453:epidemiology; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae / Q000002:abnormalities*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D002971:Cleft Lip / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002972:Cleft Palate / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016135:Spinal Dysraphism / Q000453:epidemiology