Congenital midline cervical cleft: a 7 year prospective study
Vedula Padmini Saha1, Sudipta Pal2, Somnath Saha3
1Department of Plastic Surgery, R. G. Kar Medical College, Kolkata, India.
Insights
This study reports on congenital cervical midline cleft (CCMC), a rare head and neck condition, identifying five Indian cases. It highlights the condition
Area of Science:
- Otolaryngology
- Plastic Surgery
- Developmental Biology
Background:
- Congenital cervical midline cleft (CCMC) is a rare congenital anomaly affecting the head and neck region.
- Existing literature predominantly describes CCMC in Caucasian populations, with limited data from other ethnicities.
Purpose of the Study:
- To document the occurrence and clinical presentation of CCMC in the Indian population.
- To describe the management of identified CCMC cases.
Main Methods:
- Screening of patients attending ENT and Plastic Surgery Outpatient Departments at a tertiary referral hospital in Eastern India.
- Inclusion of all identified cases of CCMC for study and treatment.
- Surgical excision and primary repair for all patients except the neonate.
Main Results:
- Five cases of CCMC were identified over a 7-year period.
- The patient cohort included three females and two males, with ages ranging from 2 days to 25 years.
- Surgical intervention was performed on four patients.
Conclusions:
- This case series represents the first documentation of CCMC in the Indian subcontinent.
- The findings expand the known demographic distribution of CCMC, indicating its presence beyond Caucasian populations.
- CCMC management involves surgical correction, with successful outcomes in the presented cases.
Abstract:
Congenital cervical midline cleft (CCMC) is a rare disease of the head and neck region with only a few reported series. The patients attending the ENT or Plastic surgery OPD of a tertiary referral hospital of eastern India were screened for the presence of CCMC. All the patients found to have the developmental abnormality were included in the study and treated. Five patients were identified as having CCMC within the 7 year study duration. Of them three were female and two male. The youngest patient was a 2 day old baby and 25 years was the maximum age of presentation in the present series. All except the new born were treated by surgical excision and primary repair of the neck defect. In literature CCMC has been described almost exclusively in the Caucasian population. The present series documents the occurrence of this developmental abnormality in the Indian population. This is perhaps the first case series on CCMC to be presented from the Indian subcontinent.
