A Longterm Follow-up Study of Two-stage Palatoplasty/Hotz Plate Approach for Patients with Unilateral Cleft Lip and Palate

A Morphological Evaluation with Lateral Cephalograms at More than 15 Years of Age

Abstract

Velopharyngeal incompetency due to cleft lip and palate causes both feeding and speech disturbances. Furthermore, maxillary growth suppression may gradually occur if a plastic operation is invasive. The aim of palatoplasty is not only to close the cleft but also to avoid these secondary problems. Therefore, a long-term follow-up study is necessary to evaluate the outcomes of the multidisciplinary team approach including the timing and method of palatoplasty. We report here on the cephalometrical analysis of the two-stage palatoplasty/Hotz plate approach for 56 patients with unilateral cleft lip and palate (TS group) who are over 15 years of age to evaluate the extent of maxillary growth using lateral cephalograms. Fifteen cases who had undergone one-stage palatoplasty from 1974 to 1982 using the push back method (PB group), and the normal range of adults reported by Iizuka and Ishikawa were used as controls.
As a result, the maxillary growth in the TS group was found to be similar to that of ordinary people without cleft lip and palate compared with the PB group. Especially, points“ A” and“ Ptm'” were significantly different between these two groups.