title: 3-dimensional computed tomographic analysis of the pharynx in adult patients with unrepaired isolated cleft palate.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study investigated 3D differences of the pharynx in adult patients with unrepaired isolated cleft palate (ICP) versus normal adults using cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT).
  
  
  METHODS
  CBCT data of 32 adult patients with nonsyndromic unrepaired ICP and 30 normal controls were acquired. Image processing and analyses were performed using Mimics (Materialise NV, Leuven, Belgium). Linear, planar, and volumetric measurements and comparisons were performed between patients with ICP and controls. Interobserver and intraobserver reliabilities of 3D pharyngeal analysis were determined by the Pearson correlation coefficient. Statistical analyses comparing patients with ICP to normal adults were performed using independent-samples t test, with the significance threshold set at P = .05.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Interobserver and intraobserver reliabilities were high. Pearson correlation coefficients ranged from 0.992 to 0.999 for interobserver measurements and from 0.994 to 0.999 for intraobserver measurements. Anterior height (P = .000), total depth (P = .003), and floor length (P = .034) of the bony nasopharynx; posteroanterior diameter of the pharyngeal airway at the palatal plane (P = .000); cross-sectional area of the pharyngeal airway at the palatal plane (P = .000); total volume (P = .031); volume above the palatal plane (P = .024); and the volume between the palatal plane and the plane of the most anterior point on the inferior margin of the outline of the body of the second cervical vertebra (P = .022) were larger in patients with ICP.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This imaging study showed an enlarged nasopharynx in the sagittal plane and increased nasopharyngeal airway volume at the palatal plane in patients with ICP.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, West China College of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Shufan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Jiayu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Lun-Jou
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Lo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002508:Cephalometry; D002972:Cleft Palate / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D054893:Cone-Beam Computed Tomography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D008297:Male; D009305:Nasopharynx / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D010614:Pharynx / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D012123:Pulmonary Ventilation; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D055815:Young Adult