Reliability and validity of tomographic anthropometric parameters in patients with cleft lip and palate

Abstract

Background: The main stigma of cleft lip and palate (CLP) is the nasal asymmetry, anthropometry helps to evaluate results, the computerized tomography (TC) assesses the maxillary conditions, and the three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction can aide to evaluate soft tissues. Repeatability and validity of tomographic anthropometric parameters of nasal symmetry have not been estimated before. Aims: The aim of the study was to estimate the repeatability and validity of tomographic nasal symmetry anthropometric parameters in patients with CLP. Settings and Design: This study was a cross-sectional study. The sample size was 63 measurements in patients with CLP 9–18 years. Variables such as sex, age, clinics and tomographic anthropometric measurements, Sn-C, Sn-Prn, A, Gsup-Gbase, Ac-Prn, C, D, Nt-Nm/Nb-Nl, La med-La lat, Sa inf-Sa sup, Sn-Al, B, Sn-Ac, Sn-Sbal were used. Subjects and Methods: Two measurements of reconstructed anthropometric tomographic 3D were evaluated twice to assess repeatability. Validity of tomographic was calculated comparing with clinical anthropometric measurements (gold standard). Statistical Analysis: Intraclass correlation coefficient was used to assess the repeatability and the individual differences for criterion validity. Results: Fifty-one subjects were included, mean age was 12.82 ± 2, and 64.71% were males. Sn-C, Sn-Prn, A, Gsup-Gbase, C, D, Nt-Nm/Nb-Nl, La med–La lat, Sa sup–Sa inf, Sn-Al, B, Sn–Ac, and Sn-Sbal had a repeatability CCI above 0.70. For validity, Sn-Prn, Prn-Ac, D, Nt-Nm/Nb-Nl, La med-La lat, Sa sup-Sa inf, Sn-Al, B, Ac-Sn, and Sn-Sbal tomographic measurements showed a mean difference ≤1 mm in comparison with clinical anthropometric measurements. Conclusions: Nine tomographic measures were closer to clinical measurements. The tomographic measures are a good way to evaluate nose symmetry in patients with CLP.