Preliminary Study in Relationship Between Cleft Lip and Palatal Bony Defect in Submucous Cleft Palate

Submucous cleft palate, presenting as varying degrees of palatal bony defect, can be difficult to detect in its early stage. The connection between submucous cleft palate and cleft lip has been noticed by clinicians but are rarely reported in literature. AIMS: To investigate the correlation between the degree of deformity of palatal bony defect and that of cleft lip. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Thirty-four patients with unilateral (n = 23) or bilateral (n = 11) cleft lip presenting with submucous cleft palate were included. Patients were divided into 3 groups according to the degree of malformation of cleft lip (microform, incomplete, and complete). The length and width of palatal bony defect was then measured from the palatal computer tomography. RESULTS: In patients with unilateral cleft lip, the proportions of microform cleft lip, incomplete cleft lip, and complete cleft lip were 17.4%, 60.9%, and 21.7%, respectively. In patients with bilateral cleft lip, there were 3 cases with microform and 1 case with incomplete cleft lip on both sides. No correlation was found between the length or relative width of palatal bony defect with the side (P length = 1.000; P relative width = 0.262) or the severity (P length = 0.605; P relative width = 0.254) of cleft lip. CONCLUSIONS: The form of cleft lip presenting with submucous cleft palate varies, and there was no correlation with the length or relative width of palatal bony defect. Advanced imaging techniques for children with cleft lip may assist the early diagnosis of submucous cleft palate.