Serial lateral roentgenocephalograms of 32 infants with isolated cleft palate were taken at the time of palatoplasty and at four years of age at Kyushu University Dental Hospital. Six dimensions and six angles were measured on each cephalogram. By cluster analysis of craniofacial characteristics at four years of age, thirty-two subjects were classified into three groups: A, B and C. The measurements were evaluated by ANOVA and Student's t-test to identify the craniofacial characteristics of each group. The craniofacial characteristics in each group at the time of palatoplasty were also analyzed and compared with those at four years of age. The relation between the classification and the patients' sex, methods of operation, and the operator were studied by χ
2 test.
The results were as follows:
1. The thirty-two subjects were classified into three subgroups by cluster analysis: group A, 20 subjects; group B, 6 subjects; and group C, 6 subjects. In group A, the cranial base length, the anterior mid-facial height, and the maxillary length were small, and the size of the mandible was medium. The relation between the upper and lower jaws was characterized by an anteriorly positioned mandible.
In group B, the cranial base length, the anterior mid-facial height and the maxillary length were medium or large, and the size of the mandible was large. The relation between the upper and lower jaws was normal.
In group C, the cranial base length, the anterior mid-facial height, and the maxillary length were medium, and the cranial base angle was the largest. The size of the mandible was the smallest, and the mandibular angle was the largest. The relation between the upper and lower jaws tended toward opisthogenia.
2. The craniofacial characteristics at four years of age were similar to those at the time of palatoplasty.
3. By the χ
2 test, there were no relation between the classification of craniofacial characteristics and sex, operative method, or operator.
In conclusion, the congenital craniofacial characteristics have an important effect on the postoperative craniofacial characteristics.
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