title: Palate dimensions in six-year-old children with unilateral cleft lip and palate: a six-center study on dental casts.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare palatal dimensions in 6-year-old children with unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP) treated by different protocols with those of noncleft children.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective intercenter outcome study. Patients : Upper dental casts from 129 children with repaired UCLP and 30 controls were analyzed by the trigonometric method.
  
  
  METHODS
  Six European cleft centers. Main outcome measures : Sagittal, transverse, and vertical dimensions of the palate were observed.
  
  
  METHODS
  Palate variables were analyzed with descriptive methods and nonparametric tests. Regarding several various characteristics measured on a relatively small number of subjects, hierarchical, k-means clustering, and principal component analyses were used.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean values of the observed dimensions for five cleft groups differed significantly from the control (p < .05). The group with one-stage closure of the cleft differed significantly from all other cleft groups in most variables (p < .05). Principal component analysis of all 159 cases identified three clusters with specific morphologic characteristics of the palate. A similar number of treated children were classified into each cluster, while all children without clefts were classified in the same cluster. The percentage of treated children from a particular group that fit this cluster ranged from 0% to 70% and increased with age at palatal closure and number of primary surgical procedures.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  At 6 years of age, children with stepwise repair and hard palate closure after the age of two more frequently result in palatal dimensions of noncleft control than children with earlier palatal closure and one-stage cleft repair.
authors.affiliation: Department of Maxillofacial and Oral Surgery, Zaloska c 2, SI -1525 Ljubljana, Slovenia. vesna.kozelj@mf.uni-lj.si
authors.forename: Vesna
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Koželj
authors.forename: Miljana
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vegnuti
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Drevenšek
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hortis-Dzierzbicka
authors.forename: Gonzalo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gonzalez-Landa
authors.forename: Siiri
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hanstein
authors.forename: Irena
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Klimova
authors.forename: Kazimierz
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kobus
authors.forename: Katarzyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kobus-Zaleśna
authors.forename: Gunvor
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Semb
authors.forename: Bill
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Shaw
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002971:Cleft Lip / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D002972:Cleft Palate / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D003765:Models, Dental; D010159:Palate / Q000473:pathology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014716:Vertical Dimension