[Familial cleft lip with or without coexisting cleft palate].

Etiopatology of clefts has not been explained yet. It is assumed that the cause of this defect is complex and heterogeneous. Genes which induce the incidence of cleft have not been detected too but clinical observations indicate a familial predisposition. At the Plastic Surgery Clinic of the Łódz Medical Academy, on years 1972-2001, 3180 children with cleft lip or/and palate were being treated. The group under examination consisted of 540 children with positive family histories. Two genetic groups were confirmed and each of them with a different risk of the reoccurrence of the defect. The first group--cleft lip and palate, the second group--an isolated cleft palate. A correlation between the type of cleft and a child's sex and its cleft affected parent was found. Among children of mothers with cleft lip there were 60% of boys and only 15% of girls with the same type of cleft. In mothers with cleft lip and palate the same type of cleft has been detected in 70% of boys and 18% girls. Similar results were obtained when affected fathers were taken into account. However, in case of mothers and fathers who were affected with isolated cleft palate there were significantly more girls than boys who had cleft palate. An in-depth study of cleft inheritance mechanisms will make in the future a more precise prediction of the occurrence of the defect in consecutive generations possible. Perhaps, the chance to work out cleft preventions will emerge and the gathered data will be taken advantage of in genetic counselling.