Frequency of various craniofacial clefts observed in a single center during a period of 34 years.

BACKGROUND

Orofacial clefts are the most common congenital anomalies of the head and neck.

AIM: The aim of this paper is to present own group of patients with different types of isolated orofacial clefts.

MATERIAL AND METHOD: A retrospective study presenting patients with different facial clefts was carried out in the group of 473 patients born in the city of Lodz.

RESULTS

In the whole group there were: 434 patients with cleft lip and/or palate, 28 with nose clefts and 11 with rare facial clefts classified according to Tessier categorization.

CONCLUSION

In our group, the majority of cases comprised of typical cleft lip and/or palate. Nose clefts are not always a part of craniofacial clefts, but isolated nose clefts can occur and can be observed as midline defects or ala nasi anomaly. A simple system may be adequate for surgical repair, with the more detailed classification schemes important for further understanding of the disease.