Current State of the Consistent Treatment of Cleft Lip and/or Palate Patients in Craniomaxillofacial Center, Okinawa Chubu Hospital

Abstract

Diseases in the maxillofacial area are associated with otolaryngology, plastic surgery and oral surgery and so on. It is often the case that multiple departments are involved in the treatment, especially in difficult cases. It is also not rare that several departments treat the same type of disease, namely ‘boundary area’ for each specialty. In order to remove this boundary area, we launched the Craniomaxillofacial Center three years ago. In this study, we examined the achievements of our Center in these three years.
A retrospective chart review was done of the 180 cleft lip and/or cleft palate patients who visited our Center in the past three years. More surgeries were done in secondary cases than in the primary cases. Lip correction and open rhinoplasty were the dominant surgical methods. With regard to the cases located in the islands of our prefecture, periodical medical care was provided by the staff of our Center with a local medical support team. The quality of the treatment and follow-up in these islands was maintained at the same level as at our Center.