The Slav-cleft: A three-center study of the outcome of treatment of cleft lip and palate. Part 1: Craniofacial morphology.
Results of a comparison of the outcomes of treatment of cleft lip and palate can be affected by growth characteristics of populations from which subjects with the clefts are derived. Moreover, conventional cephalometric techniques used in cleft studies for analysis of facial morphology provide only a partial description of shape and are confounded by biases regarding the reference structures. In this retrospective comparison, craniofacial morphology of preadolescent patients with unilateral cleft lip and palate treated in Warsaw (n = 35, age = 10.6 years, SD = 1.2), Prague (n = 38, age = 11.6 years, SD = 1.4), and Bratislava (n = 26, age = 10.5 years, SD = 1.6) were evaluated on cephalograms with the cephalometric method used in the Eurocleft study and geometric morphometrics. We found that patients treated in Warsaw showed slightly more favorable outcomes than in Prague and Bratislava. The differences were related primarily to the position of maxillary alveolar process, cranial base, mandibular angle, and soft tissues. Although no association between a component of treatment protocol and the outcome was found, it is possible that organizational factors such as participation of high-volume, experienced surgeons contributed to these results.
Department of Orthodontics and Cleft Anomalies, Dental Clinic, 3rd Medical Faculty, Charles University, Faculty Hospital Royal Vineard, Šrobárova 50, 100 34 Prague 10, Czech Republic.
Wanda
W
Urbanova
Cleft Center, Clinic of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Comenius University, Pažítková ul. č. 4, 821 01 Bratislava, Slovakia.
Irena
I
Klimova
Department of Pediatric Surgery, Institute of Mother and Child, Kasprzaka Str. 17a, 01-211 Warsaw, Poland.
Andrzej
A
Brudnicki
Department of Orthodontics and Cleft Anomalies, Dental Clinic, 3rd Medical Faculty, Charles University, Faculty Hospital Royal Vineard, Šrobárova 50, 100 34 Prague 10, Czech Republic.
Petra
P
Polackova
Cleft Center, Clinic of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Comenius University, Pažítková ul. č. 4, 821 01 Bratislava, Slovakia.
Daniela
D
Kroupova
Institute of Dentistry and Oral Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Palacky University Olomouc, Palackého 12, 779 00 Olomouc, Czech Republic.
Ivana
I
Dubovska
Department of Craniomaxillofacial and Plastic Surgery, University Hospital of Cologne, Kerpener Straße 62, 50937 Köln, Germany.
Martin
M
Rachwalski
Institute of Dentistry and Oral Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Palacky University Olomouc, Palackého 12, 779 00 Olomouc, Czech Republic; Department of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics, School of Dental Medicine, University of Bern, Freiburgstrasse 7, 3010 Bern, Switzerland. Electronic address: piotr.fudalej@zmk.unibe.ch.
Piotr Stanislaw
PS
Fudalej
D000539:Alveolar Process / Q000473:pathology; D002508:Cephalometry / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002648:Child; D002971:Cleft Lip / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D002972:Cleft Palate / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D018153:Czech Republic; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005145:Face / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008334:Mandible / Q000473:pathology; D008437:Maxilla / Q000473:pathology; D011044:Poland; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018154:Slovakia; D016896:Treatment Outcome
Cephalometrics; Cleft lip; Cleft palate; Geometric morphometrics; Morphology; Slavs