Maxillofacial morphology in children with complete unilateral cleft lip and palate treated by one-stage simultaneous repair

Background: There is a common belief among the majority of surgeons occupied with cleft lip-cleft palate repair that early one-stage simultaneous repair of hard and soft palates affects maxillofacial development adversely. This proposition has not been proven with long-term clinical studies. In this study, the effects of one-stage repair on the maxillofacial development of children with complete unilateral cleft lip-cleft palate were investigated, and the results were compared with those of the cleft children treated with conventional two-stage repair. Methods: The study was designed as follows. Group 1 consisted of 19 children (mean age, 85.4 ± 12.8 months) treated with a one-stage procedure. In this group, cleft lip, palate, and alveolus were repaired simultaneously at a single surgical session in the first 10 months of life (mean age at time of surgery, 6.8 ± 1.2 months). Group 2 consisted of 22 children (mean age, 90.1 ± 13.0 months) treated in two stages as follows: lip repair was performed at a mean age of 4.8 ± 1.0 months and palate repair was performed at a mean age of 14.6 ± 2.0 months. The follow-up period was approximately 6.3 years for both study groups. Group 3 (control) consisted of 27 children (mean age, 87.1 ± 11.7 months) without cleft who were matched for age. Results: Compared with the control group, the children in both cleft groups revealed a greater maxillomandibular retrognathism, a more open palatal plane, larger anterior facial heights, and decreased posterior vertical maxillofacial heights. No significant difference was determined between study groups 1 and 2. Conclusions: Because both of the surgical treatment procedures give rise to similar maxillofacial development outcomes, regardless of the timing of surgery, the one-stage procedure offers several important advantages, such as less psychosocial trauma, low cost, and possibly an improvement in speech results because of less scarred palatal fields and the low rate of palatal fistula.