The relationship between volumetric assessment of cleft lip and palate defects with age using cone beam computed tomography

Abstract

Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the Relationship between volumetric assessment of unilateralcleft lip and palate (UCLP) with age in subjects using computed tomography.Materials and methods: This retrospective study consisted of CBCT scans of 96 non-syndromic UCLPpatients 52 boys and 44 girls between 7 to 15 years old. The patients with the following criteria wereexcluded from the study: previous orthodontic treatment, alveolar grafting, orthognathic surgery, trauma,syndromes, history of tonsillectomy, and adenoidectomy. Patients were classified into 4 groups accordingto their age with approximately equal samples. Materialize Mimics innovation suite 20 software (Leuven,Belgium) was used to measure the maximum diameter of defect in the axial, coronal, sagittal plane in mm,bone defect volume in mm3, and also nasal floor deficiency area, alveolar deficiency area in mm2. KruskalWallis test was used to analyze the data.Results: The Maximum diameter of cleft in the sagittal aspect was 39.2±24.6 mm in the 7 till 8 age groupand 26.1±10.9 mm in the 13 till 15 years old age group in both genders. There was a reverse significantrelationship between age and the maximum diameter of cleft P<0001. There was not any significant relationbetween defect volume and age.Conclusions: There was not any significant relation between defect volume and age. However, CBCTimaging can be used to assess the volume of the clefts and thus evaluate the amount of bone necessary torepair the cleft area for each age.