Developing a visual rating chart for the esthetic outcome of unilateral cleft lip and palate repair

INTRODUCTION: Aesthetic impairment is a major concern for the cleft lip/palate patient. Thus, auditing of postsurgical esthetic outcome needs to be further explored as till date no universally accepted protocol exists. The study objective was to propose a new visual rating chart (VRC) for the aesthetic outcome of cleft lip and palate (CLP) surgery. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In a retrospective review of 200 repaired clefts, the common esthetic deficiencies were identified, categorized and ranked in the order of severity. A chart of the illustrative diagram with textual description of the defects was produced and used as a basis for rating outcome by two groups of raters (familiar raters and recruited raters). Intra- and inter-raters reliability was estimated using Cohen's kappa statistics and intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC). Comparison between mean group coefficient was achieved with Kendall's correlation coefficient of concordance. RESULTS: The intra- and inter-rater reliability for familiar raters was found to be strong with kappa values range of 0.80–0.87 (P < 0.001). Similarly, inter-raters’ reliability by recruited judges was very strong using ICC at both single (0.768) and average measures (0.982). CONCLUSION: The VRC is a reliable tool for assessing the esthetic outcome of CLP repairs.