title: Treatment outcome after two-stage palatal closure in unilateral cleft lip and palate: a comparison with Eurocleft.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthodontics and Oral Biology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Pieter J P M
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Nollet
authors.forename: Christos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Katsaros
authors.forename: Martin A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: van 't Hof
authors.forename: Gunvor
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Semb
authors.forename: William C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Shaw
authors.forename: Anne Marie
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Kuijpers-Jagtman
mesh_terms: 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