[Clinical study on fistula incidence of early cleft palate repair].

OBJECTIVE

To study the regularity of fistula incidence after early cleft palate repair

METHODS

531 patients aged 2-12 months at the operation were included in the retrospective study, who underwent cleft palate repair during July 1995 to September 2001.

RESULTS

The overall frequency of fistulas was 4.9%. The fistula incidence of bilateral complete cleft palate was obviously higher (7.8%) than that of incomplete cleft palate (4.4%) and the unilateral complete group (4.3%) (P < 0.005). There was no significant difference between the latter two. Fistula incidence was irrelevant to the patient age and the operation method. Seventy percent of fistulas in complete cleft palate occurred on the hard palate, which was significantly higher than that on the other parts.

CONCLUSION

Infant cleft palate repair did not increase fistula incidence. We recommend preoperative orthodontics for bilateral cleft palate infants.