title: Effect on maxillary arch development of early 2-stage palatoplasty by modified furlow technique and conventional 1-stage palatoplasty in children with complete unilateral cleft lip and palate.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to evaluate the palatal morphology of patients with complete unilateral cleft lip and palate after early 2-stage palatoplasty (ETS) consisting of soft palate closure by a modified Furlow palatoplasty at 12 months of age and hard palate closure at 18 months of age. We compared the result with the palatal morphology obtained by Wardill-Kilner push-back palatoplasty (PB) at 12 months of age with that of children with noncleft palate. In the present study we investigated whether ETS can result in better palatal development than conventional PB.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty subjects were treated by ETS and 42 underwent PB. We also included cross-sectional data obtained from 66 children with noncleft palate as control. We measured the arch length, width, and cleft width using dental cast models that were consecutively taken at 3 months to 4 yrs of age and compared the results among the 3 groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  At 4 years of age, the anteroposterior palatal length of ETS was significantly longer than that of PB by 9.8%, and the transversal palatal width of ETS was also markedly wider than that of PB at every point measured. Furthermore, ETS showed potential catch-up growth in the anteroposterior palatal length from 12 months to 4 years of age.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results demonstrate that ETS has a considerable benefit for the palatal development of patients with complete unilateral cleft lip and palate compared with PB.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Osaka Medical Center and Research Institute for Maternal and Child Health, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: Tadashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamanishi
authors.forename: Juntaro
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nishio
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kohara
authors.forename: Yoshiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hirano
authors.forename: Michiyo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sako
authors.forename: Yukiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yamanishi
authors.forename: Tadafumi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Adachi
authors.forename: Shigenori
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Miya
authors.forename: Takao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mukai
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D002508:Cephalometry; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002971:Cleft Lip / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D002972:Cleft Palate / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003724:Dental Arch / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000473:pathology; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008437:Maxilla / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000473:pathology; D003765:Models, Dental; D010159:Palate / Q000254:growth & development / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D021362:Palate, Hard / Q000601:surgery; D010160:Palate, Soft / Q000601:surgery; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures / Q000379:methods*