Research on distribution of cervical vertebra abnormalities in patients with cleft lip and palate

Abstract

Objective To investigate incidences of cervical vertebra abnormalities in patients with cleft lip and palate and the relevance of their pathogeneses. Methods We selected 96 patients with cleft lip and palate as the experimental group and 250 patients with normal lip and palate and class Ⅰmalocclusion as the control group, and examined whether they had abnormalities of cervical fusion or/and posterior arch deficiency by their lateral cephalometric radiographs. Chi-square test was used for comparing the differences in incidences between two groups. And pathogeneses of two diseases were explored. Results The incidence of cervical vertebra abnormality was 69.9% in the experimental group, but was 14.8% in the control group, the difference of the incidence of cervical vertebra abnormality between the two groups was statistically significant (P<0.001). The incidences of cervical fusion alone, posterior arch deficiency alone, and combined cervical fusion and posterior arch deficiency in the experimental group were statistically different from those in the control group. There was no statistical difference in cervical vertebra abnormalities with respect to gender. Conclusions Cervical fusion mainly occurred between the second and the third cervical vertebra. The incidences of cervical vertebra abnormalities in patients with cleft lip and palate were higher than that in normal population. Both anomalies were correlative in the aspect of pathogenesis. Key words: Cleft lip and palate; Cervical vertebra abnormalities; Lateral cephalometric radiograph; Panoramic radiograph