title: Palatal growth in complete unilateral cleft lip and palate patients following neonatal cheiloplasty: Classic and geometric morphometric assessment.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A new method of early neonatal cheiloplasty has recently been employed on patients having complete unilateral cleft lip and palate (cUCLP). We aimed to investigate (1) their detailed palatal morphology before surgery and growth during the 10 months after neonatal cheiloplasty, (2) the growth of eight dimensions of the maxilla in these patients, (3) the development of these dimensions compared with published data on noncleft controls and on cUCLP patients operated using later operation protocol (LOP; 6 months of age).
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixty-six virtual dental models of 33 longitudinally evaluated cUCLP patients were analysed using metric analysis, a dense correspondence model, and multivariate statistics. We compared the palatal surfaces before neonatal cheiloplasty (mean age, 4 days) and before palatoplasty (mean age, 10 months).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The palatal form variability of 10-month-old children was considerably reduced during the observed period thanks to their undisturbed growth, that is, the palate underwent the same growth changes following neonatal cheiloplasty. A detailed colour-coded map identified the most marked growth at the anterior and posterior ends of both segments. The maxilla of cUCLP patients after neonatal cheiloplasty had a growth tendency similar to noncleft controls (unlike LOP).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Both methodological approaches showed that early neonatal cheiloplasty in cUCLP patients did not prevent forward growth of the upper jaw segments and did not reduce either the length or width of the maxilla during the first 10 months of life.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology and Human Genetics, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Viničná 7, 128 43, Prague 2, Czech Republic. Electronic address: eva.hoffmannova87@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hoffmannova
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology and Human Genetics, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Viničná 7, 128 43, Prague 2, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Šárka
authors.initials: Š
authors.lastname: Bejdová
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, 2nd Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague and Motol University Hospital, V Úvalu 84, 150 00, Prague 5, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Jiri
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Borský
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology and Human Genetics, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Viničná 7, 128 43, Prague 2, Czech Republic; Department of Software and Computer Science Education, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University in Prague, Malostranské nám. 25, 118 00, Prague 1, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Ján
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dupej
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology and Human Genetics, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Viničná 7, 128 43, Prague 2, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Veronika
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Cagáňová
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology and Human Genetics, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Viničná 7, 128 43, Prague 2, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Jana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Velemínská
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000886:Anthropometry / Q000379:methods*; D002971:Cleft Lip / Q000601:surgery*; D002972:Cleft Palate / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008437:Maxilla / Q000254:growth & development*; D009929:Organ Size; D010159:Palate / Q000254:growth & development*; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures
keywords: 3-D geometric morphometry; Early neonatal cheiloplasty; Palatal growth; Traditional morphometry; Unilateral cleft lip and palate