Complete Cleft Palate: A New Scheme Of Treatment

摘要

The problems of complete cleft palate still represent a great challenge because of the potential associated sequalae and complications with the current treatment scheme which necessitated finding out a new scheme of treatment that can minimize these problems. Introduction Complete cleft palate is a real exhaust for the patient, his family and the treating team. The treatment does not end by closing the cleft, but may extend up to the age of 18 years or more. The increased incidence of complications as speech problems, middle ear infections and palatal fistula let us investigate this problem and compare between two techniques of closure as well as deciding the time of surgery.IncidenceCleft lip and cleft palate are the most common congenital anomalies of the head and neck occurring as 1 in 750 live births. In Orientals it is 1:500, in Caucasians it is 1:1000 and in black Americans it is 0.4:1000. The recent views suggest that clefts are due to multifactorial etiology involving many genes and environmental factors. The isolated cleft palate is more heterogeneous. Associated anomalies are seen in cases as Robin syndrome and Fallot's tetralogy. Drugs during pregnancy, consanguinity, and exposure to radiation are common environmental causes in the etiology (Decker and Du Plessis, 1980: His 1901: El-Rakhawy,1978: Stark and Kernahan 1959: Stark, 1954: Wyszynski et al 1997)