title: Skull base factors in relation to hearing impairment in cleft palate children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This investigation was performed to determine if an easily measurable, reproducible, bony parameter could be identified that might predict hearing loss in cleft palate children.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this prospective study performed at the Sheffield Children's Hospital (U.K.), 34 children with successfully repaired cleft palate who responded to a postal request for volunteers were assessed clinically, audiologically, and by lateral soft tissue neck radiography. Six children were excluded because of previous otologic surgery or poor quality radiographs. Twenty-six children who had the same series of investigations were randomly selected from routine otolaryngological outpatient clinics and acted as controls.
  
  
  METHODS
  The sphenopalatine angle (SPA), which relates the facial and cranial components of the skull, was measured on each child's radiograph.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The median SPA in the cleft palate group was significantly greater than in the control group (p = 0.01). In those cleft palate children with a hearing loss the sphenopalatine angle was smaller than in their normal hearing counterparts (p = 0.01). No significant difference was found in the SPA between the hearing loss and normal hearing controls. There was no significant difference in age ranges between the hearing and hearing loss subgroups in each of the two primary groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this study, those cleft palate children with a smaller SPA have a greater incidence of hearing loss.
authors.affiliation: University of Sheffield, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Carrie
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sprigg
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Parker
mesh_terms: D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002508:Cephalometry; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002972:Cleft Palate / Q000150:complications*; D005064:Eustachian Tube / Q000503:physiopathology; D006314:Hearing Loss, Conductive / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D010034:Otitis Media with Effusion / Q000150:complications / Q000209:etiology; D010159:Palate / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011859:Radiography; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D019291:Skull Base / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D013100:Sphenoid Bone / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric