Prenatal Consultation Outcomes for Infants With Cleft Lip With and Without Cleft Palate

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Otolaryngology
• Craniofacial Surgery
• Neonatal Care

Background:

• Cleft lip with or without cleft palate (CL±P) requires multidisciplinary care.
• Prenatal diagnosis allows for early intervention planning.
• The impact of prenatal consultation on infant outcomes is not fully elucidated.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the clinical impacts of prenatal consultation with a multidisciplinary cleft team on infants with CL±P.
• Evaluate effects on hospitalization duration, surgical timing, and feeding support needs.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective case series comparing infants with and without prenatal consultation.
• Data collected from a tertiary pediatric hospital (June 2005-December 2019).
• Primary outcomes: early hospitalization length, surgical repair timing, post-surgical stay, and feeding evaluation visits.

Main Results:

• Prenatal consultation group showed significantly earlier cleft lip repair (13.4 vs. 15.3 weeks).
• Infants with prenatal consultation had shorter hospitalizations for feeding difficulties (4.9 vs. 11.5 days).
• Fewer unplanned speech-language pathologist (SLP) visits for feeding issues were observed in the prenatal consultation group (2.7% vs. 11.3%).

Conclusions:

• Prenatal consultation for CL±P is associated with improved clinical outcomes.
• Benefits include reduced early hospitalizations, earlier surgical repair, and decreased need for feeding support.
• Multidisciplinary prenatal care positively impacts infant management for CL±P.