Assessment of the cleft nasal deformity using a regression equation

Validation of the Hubli Grading System for Assessing Unilateral and Bilateral Cleft Lip Outcomes

BACKGROUND

When determining whether a cleft lip repair outcome is acceptable, the severity of a patient's cleft at initial presentation must be considered. Currently, there is not a widely agreed upon scale for grading the pre-operative severity or post-operative surgical outcome for patients with unilateral and/or bilateral cleft lip. The aim of this study is to validate the Hubli grading system as a reliable and reproducible system for characterizing cleft lip repair outcomes.

METHODS

Craniofacial surgeon graders independently evaluated 2489 patients from 56 different countries undergoing both unilateral and bilateral cleft lip repair from April 2004 to December 2018. Preoperative severity and postoperative surgical results were assessed, and these grades were combined to determine surgical outcome acceptability based on initial cleft severity. Intrarater and interrater reliability were calculated as percentages of agreement.

RESULTS

Intrarater and interrater acceptability scores had an agreement of 94.50% and 87.04%, respectively. These results indicate that using the Hubli grading system, independent raters are able to reliably and reproducibly measure the acceptability of a cleft lip repair.

CONCLUSIONS

This study validates the use of the Hubli grading system to evaluate the acceptability of unilateral and bilateral cleft lip repairs. This is the largest study to date to evaluate cleft lip severity and repair outcomes, and the Hubli grading system is the only scale to determine the acceptability of surgical outcomes based on initial cleft severity. This system is designed to identify surgeons with sub-optimal outcomes in order to implement timely, individualized training on a global scale.

Evaluation of Facial Appearance in Patients with Cleft Lip and Palate by Laypeople and Professionals: A Systematic Literature Review

Objective

To identify whether laypeople and professionals rate the facial appearance of patients with cleft lip and palate (CLP) similarly based on viewing full facial images.

Design

Several electronic databases were searched. A hand search was performed among reference lists and relevant journals. Studies that assessed the full facial appearance of patients with CLP based on two-dimensional (2D) photographs, 3D images, or clinical examination by laypeople and professionals using a visual analog scale (VAS) or a categorical rating scale were included. Two authors independently assessed articles using methodologic-quality scoring protocol.

Result

Eleven articles were included in qualitative synthesis, including four high-level and seven moderate-level papers. Three studies found that laypeople were more critical than professionals, three found there was no significant difference between laypeople and professionals, and five reported that professionals were more critical than laypeople when assessing facial appearance of patients with CLP.

Conclusions

It still remains unknown whether laypeople are more or less critical than professionals when rating facial appearance of patients with repaired CLP. Professionals are more familiar with the esthetic outcomes and difficulties of treating patients. The opposite maybe true for laypeople; this disparity between what is achievable by professionals and what is expected by laypeople may be a source of dissatisfaction in facial appearance outcome. Further well-designed studies should be carried out to address this question and the clinical significance of the difference in rating scores for patients with CLP.

Validation of a Unilateral Cleft Lip Surgical Outcomes Evaluation Scale for Surgeons and Laypersons

BACKGROUND

A standardized evaluation tool is needed for the assessment of surgical outcomes in cleft lip surgery. Current scales for evaluating unilateral cleft lip/nose (UCL/N) aesthetic outcomes are limited in their reliability, ease of use, and application. The Unilateral Cleft Lip Surgical Outcomes Evaluation (UCL SOE) scale measures symmetry of 4 components and sums these for a total score. The purpose of this study was to validate the SOE as a reliable tool for use by both surgeons and laypersons.

METHODS

Twenty participants (9 surgeons and 12 laypeople) used the SOE to evaluate 25 sets of randomly selected presurgical and postsurgical standardized photographs of UCL/N patients. Interrater reliability for surgeon and laypeople was determined using an intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC).

RESULTS

Individual surgeons and laypeople both reached an ICC in the "fair to good" range (ICC = 0.42 and 0.59, respectively). Averaging 2 evaluators in the surgeon group improved the ICC to 0.58 and in the laypeople group to 0.74, respectively. Averaging 3 evaluators increased the ICC for surgeons to the "good" range (ICC = 0.71) and the ICC for laypeople to the "very good" range (ICC = 0.82).

CONCLUSIONS

Surgeon and layperson raters can reliably use the SOE to assess the aesthetics results after surgical repair of UCL/N, and improved reliability and reproducibility is achieved by averaging the scores of multiple reviewers.

Comparison of two scoring systems in the assessment of nasolabial appearance in cleft lip and palate patients

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to determine the reliability of 2 scoring systems.

DESIGN

This study used a retrospective analysis of the results of complete unilateral cleft lip and palate patients.

SETTING

The study was conducted at the VU Medical Center and the Academic Center for Dentistry of Amsterdam.

PATIENTS

Patients were complete unilateral cleft lip and palate patients at the age of 6 years.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Assessment of the nose and lip together and separately with a numerical photographic reference scoring system and with a 5-point ordinal scale without the use of a reference photograph by 6 judges. Intraobserver and interobserver reliability was calculated; both ways of assessment were compared by using Kendall tau.

RESULTS

Photographs were available of 55 children (6 years old, 38 boys and 17 girls) with a complete unilateral cleft lip and palate. The interobserver reliabilities of the lip and nose together were 0.53 and, for the nose and lip separately, 0.51 and 0.43, respectively with the use of the numerical scale. In the 5-point scale, these were 0.55 for the nose and lip together and 0.57 and 0.45 for the nose and lip separately, respectively. Furthermore, it was found that the lip dominates in the scorings of the lip and nose together (linear regression analysis).

CONCLUSIONS

The 2 tested systems are equivalent in their reliability and outcome. The lip is dominating in the overall scorings. It is advocated to use the 5-point scale without the use of a reference photograph and to assess the lip and nose separately.

Changes in nose symmetry in unilateral cleft lip and palate treated by differing pre-surgical assistance: An objective assessment of primary repair

BACKGROUND

Residual deformity of the nose, not lip, continues to be the greater challenge in UCCLP rehabilitation. Platform distortions often re-emerge following primary reconstruction revealing the stereotypical cleft-nose. Nasal alveolar molding reduces nose asymmetry. However, this study applies directional mechanics to the underlying platform distortions and soft tissue nose, introducing a novel device addressing the distorted septo-premaxillary junction.

METHODS

Retrospective assessment of 47 UCCLP patients by 2-dimensional photographic analysis with 24 subjects treated by dento-maxillary advancement (DMA) and nasal septum button-head pin (NSBP), 17 having nasal molding (NM), compared to 23 subjects without nose treatment, 16 with DMA and 7 with passive plates. Measurements were assessed by t tests, ≤ 05 confidence.

RESULTS

Frontal view: nose-treatment sample achieved ideal ala-bases vertical symmetry (p = 0.00065 & 0.00073); significantly improved ala-rims "slump" angle (p = 0.0071). Both samples had nose positioning within the facial frame like non-cleft population. Sub-nasal view: significant differences were for columella angle (p = 0.0015), nares "offset" (p = 0.002), and columella symmetry (p = 0.022) with nose-treatment achieving near ideal columella symmetry score (0.92) vs. (0.81).

CONCLUSIONS

NM and the novel NSBP procedures integrated with the platform correction effect of the DMA successfully treated at three distorted anatomic-levels native to UCCLP to improve nasal aesthetics.

Scoring systems of cleft-related facial deformities: a review of literature

Objective :  There is a need for an internationally agreed objective method of assessing cleft-related deformities in order to compare the results of individual surgeons and different surgical techniques or to determine the optimal timing for primary lip closure. To assess the current methods, an overview of the recent developments in postoperative scoring systems of cleft-related deformities was made. Methods :  A Medline search from June 2003 through July 2011 was conducted, and references in the selected articles were checked. This search yielded 428 articles, and after application of the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 40 articles were included in this review. Results :  Twenty-five studies used two-dimensional (2D) photographs for the assessment of cleft-related deformities. Fourteen of these studies used a subjective method for the assessment and 11 performed anthropometric measurements. Good reliability has been found for subjective assessments and measurements from 2D photographs. Fifteen studies assessed three-dimensional (3D) imaging. Conclusions :  Although there is a wide variety in study design, 3D imaging seems most reliable in assessing cleft-related facial deformities. However, scoring on 2D photographs is easier to perform and more applicable in daily practice because all cleft patients are photographed through the course of their treatment.

The cleft-columellar angle: a useful variable to describe the unilateral cleft lip-associated nasal deformity

Objective : To study a method for quantification of the severity of either the unilateral cleft lip deformity or the associated cleft nasal deformity. A standard method would be useful for defining surgical outcomes. Design : Using a developed rating questionnaire and patient photographs, 26 nonexpert volunteers rated 14 children with untreated unilateral cleft lip according to the severity of their overall deformity, as well as the individual lip and nose deformities. The cleft-columellar angle was measured as defined by the intersection of a line in the parasagittal plane and a line perpendicular to the columellar base along the midcolumellar line. The association between deformity ratings and the cleft-columellar angle was modeled using mixed-model regression analysis. Setting : Tertiary care academic medical center. Results : After accounting for within-rater and within-child effects, the cleft-columellar angle explained a statistically significant portion of the variance in the rated severity for lip deformity (49%, p  =  .0012), nasal deformity (57%, p  =  .0001), and overall deformity (57%, p  =  .0005). Conclusions : Measurement of the cleft-columellar angle in two-dimensional digital photography is simple and correlative, capturing a substantial portion of nonexpert severity ratings of the constellation of deformities seen with the unilateral cleft lip deformity. Given its ease of application, the cleft-columellar angle is a useful variable in the description of the unilateral cleft lip deformity and may find utility across institutions as cleft surgeons seek to advance surgical care through outcomes research.

An evidence-based approach to secondary cleft lip nasal deformity

The Maintenance of Certification module series is designed to help the clinician structure his or her study in specific areas appropriate to his or her clinical practice. This article is prepared to accompany practice-based assessment of preoperative assessment, anesthesia, surgical treatment plan, perioperative management, and outcomes. In this format, the clinician is invited to compare his or her methods of patient assessment and treatment, outcomes, and complications, with authoritative, information-based references. This information base is then used for self-assessment and benchmarking in parts II and IV of the Maintenance of Certification process of the American Board of Plastic Surgery. This article is not intended to be an exhaustive treatise on the subject. Rather, it is designed to serve as a reference point for further in-depth study by review of the reference articles presented.

A survival prediction model of hemorrhagic shock in rats using a logistic regression equation

Hemorrhagic shock is a common cause of death in emergency rooms. Since the symptoms of hemorrhagic shock occur after shock has considerably progressed, it is difficult to diagnose shock early. The purpose of this study was to improve early diagnosis of hemorrhagic shock using a survival prediction model in rats. We measured ECG, blood pressure, respiration and temperature in 45 Sprague-Dawley rats, and then obtained a logistic regression equation predicting survival rates. Area under the ROC curves was 0.99. The Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit chi-square was 0.86 (degree of freedom=8, p=0.999). Applying the determined optimal boundary value of 0.25, the accuracy of survival prediction was 94.7%.