Treatment of cleft lip and/or cleft palate patients with chromosomal abnormalities

There are many malformations resulting from chromosomal abnormalities and among those so affected are some cleft lip and/or cleft palate patients. Since 1983, the authors have treated over 300 cleft lip and/or cleft palate cases, 25 of which presented chromosomal anomalies, and operations were performed for 5 cleft lip and 3 cleft palate subjects, consisting of 2 Down syndrome cases, 1 trisomy-13 syndrome, 1 of 4p-, and 1 of 4 ring. Herein they report their criteria and method of treating cleft lip and/or cleft palate patients with chromosomal anomalies. In principle, operations are provided for such patients, who are mainly children, but the patient must weigh over five kilograms and be in generally good condition. As for their treatment criteria, since the aim of their palate plasty is to improve the functions, only patients who can ingest orally and show a developmental potential of being able to roll over by themselves are considered candidates for operations. Even though palate plasty may not enable such patients to speak, the authors feel the procedure is worthwhile if it only improves their ability to swallow.