[Effective evaluation of presurgical nasoalveolar molding devices in the treatment of complete unilateral cleft lip and palate patients].

Objective: To evaluate the orthopedic effect of presurgical nasoalveolar molding (PNAM) devices on the palatal deformities in unilateral complete cleft lip and palate (UCCLP) patients.

Methods: Three groups with 19 patients each were studied. All samples in groups A and B were non-syndromic UCCLP children. Group A was treated with PNAM prior to operation. Group B was untreated prior to operation. Samples in group C were normally developed nose and lip palate infants aged three months. The orthotopic palate photos before and after PNAM treatment for group A, as well as pre-operative photos of groups B and group C, were taken and measured. All statistics were analyzed using SPSS 21.0.

Results: PNAM treatment significantly increased the AW, AC, and PA of UCCLP patients (P < 0.05), whereas CPW, CWA, CWAS, CWAH, PMD, and CA significantly decreased (P < 0.05). However, no significant difference was observed with the cases in group C (P < 0.05). The AW, CPW, CA, and PA of the patients in group B significantly increased compared with the cases in group A before PNAM treatment (P < 0.05). Multivariate analysis of variance indicated that TW had no statistically significant difference among the three groups (P > 0.05).

Conclusion: PNAM treatment is a non-surgical early treatment for the effective improvement of palatal primary deformities in UCCLP patients.