Tessier number 7 cleft with unilateral complete cleft lip and palate: a case report

To date, there have been no reports of patients showing a Tessier number 7 cleft with unilateral complete cleft lip and palate. Furthermore, no studies have established the sequence, plan, or timing of surgical methods for treating patients presenting the above anomalies simultaneously. We report a case of a Tessier number 7 cleft with unilateral complete cleft lip and palate. Two months after birth, lip adhesion was performed on the unilateral complete cleft lip and total excision was performed on the skin tag. At 4 months of age, Tessier number 7 cleft was corrected. At 6 months of age, surgery involving two small triangular flaps was performed on the unilateral incomplete cleft lip after performing lip adhesion. At 13 months of age, two-flap palatoplasty with a vomer flap was performed on the complete cleft palate. At 6 years of age, open rhinoplasty was performed on the unilateral cleft lip nose deformity. At 9 years of age, bone grafting was performed for the alveolar cleft. At follow-up appointments up to 13 years of age, there were no major complications. Here, we present this patient, surgical procedures and timelines, and show our results demonstrating good postoperative outcomes.

Oronasal Fistula Incidence Associated With Vomer Flap Repair of Cleft Palate: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Objectives: To determine the incidence of oronasal fistulas (ONF) associated with primary repair of the anterior palate using a single-layered, superiorly based, vomer mucoperiosteal flap. Design: A systematic review of MEDLINE, PubMed, Cochrane, and Web of Science databases using the keywords: “vomer flap” and “cleft palate repair” were carried out. A meta-analysis was performed using random effect modeling with stratified analysis by syndromic diagnosis, number of surgeons, and mean age. Main Outcome Measure(s): Incidence of ONFs. Results: The meta-analysis included 9 studies with a total of 464 children who met inclusion criteria. The overall ONF rate was 3.0% (95% CI: 1.0-9.0). Fistula rates were not significantly different in studies that included syndromic patients compared to studies that did not, 5.0% (95% CI: 1.0-24.0) versus 3.0% (95% CI: 1.0-6.0), respectively. There was no significant difference between studies in which there was a single surgeon versus multiple surgeons, 3.0% (95% CI: 1.0-13.0) versus 4.0% (95% CI: 1.0-8.0), respectively. Age at the time of cleft repair showed no statistically significant difference in fistula rate when comparing children with a mean age less than 12 months to those greater than 12 months, 3.0% (95% CI: 1.0-5.0) versus 5.0% (95% CI: 1.0-28.0), respectively. Conclusions: The vomer flap technique in cleft palate repair appears to be associated with a low ONF rate unaffected by syndromic diagnosis, number of surgeons, or patient age at time of repair.

Facial and Nasolabial Aesthetics of Complete UCLP Submitted to 2-Stage Palate Repair With Vomer Flap

Objective: To evaluate the aesthetics of nasolabial appearance and facial profile of children with unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP) submitted to 2-stage palate repair with vomerine flap. Design: Retrospective. Setting: Single center. Patients: Forty patients with UCLP, mean age of 7.81 years of both sexes, rehabilitated at a single center by 1 plastic surgeon. Interventions: Lip and anterior palate repair with nasal alar repositioning was performed at 3 to 6 months of age by Millard technique and vomer flap, respectively. Posterior palate was repaired at 18 months by Von Langenbeck technique. Main Outcome Measure(s): Four cropped digital facial photographs of each patient were evaluated by 3 orthodontists to score the nasolabial aesthetics and profile. Frequencies of each score as well means and medians were calculated. Kappa test was used for evaluating inter- and intrarater reproducibility. Results: The nasal form and deviation was scored as good/very good in 70%, fair in 22.5%, and poor in 7.5% of the sample. The nasal–subnasal aesthetic was considered good/very good in 55%, fair in 30%, and poor in 15% of the sample. The lip vermilion border and the white part of surgical scar aesthetics were good/very good in 77.5% and 80%, fair in 17.5% for both categories, and poor in 5% and 2.5% of the cases, respectively. In all, 67.5% showed convex facial profile, 20% was straight, and 12.5% was concave profile. Conclusions: Two-stage palatoplasty presented an adequate aesthetical results for the majority of patients with UCLP in the mixed dentition.