Treatment outcome after two-stage palatal closure in unilateral cleft lip and palate: a comparison with Eurocleft.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate dental arch relationships of patients with unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP) treated with a two-stage palatal closure and to compare them with the six centers from the Eurocleft study that used various treatment protocols.


METHODS
Repeated-measures study.


METHODS
Cleft Palate Craniofacial Unit of Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.


METHODS
Records of 9-year-old children with complete unilateral cleft lip and palate (n = 43) were included.


METHODS
The dental arch relationships of these patients were assessed by applying the Goslon Yardstick and subsequently compared with the Goslon outcome of the six-center Eurocleft study.


METHODS
Statistics of intra- and interexaminer agreement.


RESULTS
For the Nijmegen UCLP group, 9% of dental arch relationships had a Goslon score of 1, 52% had a score of 2, 30% has a score of 3, 9% had a score of 4, and none had a score of 5. The mean Nijmegen Goslon score showed no significant differences with Eurocleft centers A, B, and E, which achieved the best treatment results, but did significantly differ from Goslon outcomes of Eurocleft centers D (p < .001), C, and F (p < .01), which had relatively poor treatment outcome.


CONCLUSIONS
Treatment outcome of the patients in the Nijmegen UCLP group treated with two-stage palatal closure was comparable with the results of the Eurocleft centers with the best outcome. Treatment protocol could not explain differences in the quality of treatment results.
Nollet
Pieter J P M
PJ
Department of Orthodontics and Oral Biology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Katsaros
Christos
C
van 't Hof
Martin A
MA
Semb
Gunvor
G
Shaw
William C
WC
Kuijpers-Jagtman
Anne Marie
AM
D000367:Age Factors; D016025:Bone Transplantation; D002648:Child; D002971:Cleft Lip / Q000601:surgery*; D002972:Cleft Palate / Q000601:surgery*; D002985:Clinical Protocols; D003724:Dental Arch / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D015337:Multicenter Studies as Topic; D015588:Observer Variation; D010159:Palate / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D021362:Palate, Hard / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D016896:Treatment Outcome