Three dimensional evaluation of pharyngeal airway morphology in individuals with unilateral and bilateral left lip and palate

The aim of this study was the comparative evaluation of nasopharyngeal morphology of patients with UCLP, BCLP with a control group with the 3D CT images. The sample of the study was comprised with selecting cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) datas from the achive of Oral Diagnosis and Radiology Department of Dicle University. The study group included 17 patients affected by BCLP and 19 patients affected by UCLP who had no other syndrome or congenital anomaly. The control group included 21 patients with normal sagittal and vertical growth patterns without clefts, other syndromes, or congenital anomalies. Six Linear, four areal and three volumetric measurements were done by using Mimics (Version 15 , Materialise Medical Co., Leuven, Belgium) and Dolphin 3D software programs. In addition, five angular, 11 linear and 1 proportional measurements were made by using Dolphin 3D software program on cephalometric films obtained from CBCT images of individuals. One-way ANOVA analysis of variance was used to determine differences between groups. Post-hoc Tukey HSD test was used for the parameters which were found to be statistically significant between groups according to the results of this method. As a result; there were differences maxillary and mandibular development and vertical growth between unilateral and bilateral CLP groups and control group, but no difference was found in the cranial parameters. There were no significant differences in pharyngeal airway parameters between the unilateral, bilateral CLP and control groups.