Oro-facial clefts at a tertiary level hospital of eastern Nepal: A retrospective insight

Introduction: There are only a few centers providing care to orofacial cleft patients across Nepal. However, no adequate data have been reported regarding the epidemiology, pattern, and association of cleft in children from eastern Nepal. The aim of the study was to study the epidemiological profile of cleft lip palate (CLP) patients reporting to the department of oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMFS) in Dharan, Eastern Nepal. Materials and Methods: Data retrospectively retrieved from the cleft registry in the department of OMFS were tabulated and entered into Microsoft Excel 2000. Data of all the diagnosed nonsyndromic orofacial cleft patients attending BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences for treatment from August 2011 to August 2017 were used for the analysis. Incompletely filled records and syndromic cases were excluded. Results: Data of 220 orofacial clefts were analyzed which included 119 males and 101 females. Among these children with cleft, only 7 patients had direct family members and 18 patients had distant family members having the same condition. Among patients with CL (n = 151), left-sided CL (n = 85) was a more common presentation. Amongst patients with a cleft of the hard plate (n = 153), bilateral (n = 87) presentation was more common. A similar pattern was observed for cleft alveolus (n = 117) with the left side (n = 60) being common. In clefts affecting the soft palate (n = 192), complete cleft (n = 189) was a more common occurrence than incomplete. The majority of our patients had a CLP (n = 133) with isolated CL being the least commonly seen (n = 18). Conclusion: The majority of our patients had a CLP with isolated CL being the least common. This observation is in concordance with reports from other Caucasian and Asian populations both from developed and developing countries.