A Comparative Assessment of Surgeon Appraisal of Presurgical Infant Orthopedics Outcomes Using PLANA and NAM

Presurgical lip, alveolus, and nose approximation (PLANA) is a novel form of presurgical infant orthopedics (PSIO) involving a prefabricated silicone intranasal device combined with hydrocolloid adhesive lip taping. Early studies have demonstrated favorable nasolabial morphologic outcomes using PLANA and a reduction in the burden of care on infants and their caregivers relative to nasoalveolar molding (NAM). However, the efficacy of PLANA in reducing cleft severity to facilitate surgical repair has not been comprehensively assessed from the perspective of the cleft surgeon. This study, therefore, compared surgeon ratings of PSIO outcomes in infants with unilateral cleft lip treated with PLANA and NAM. Two expert surgeons blindly evaluated PSIO outcomes in 10 patients treated with PLANA and 10 patients treated with NAM using standardized pre- and post-PSIO photographs. Surgeons used a 4-point Likert scale to assess improvement in lip approximation, lateral displacement of the subnasale from the midsagittal plane, nasal deviation, alar base width symmetry, alar base height symmetry, columellar angle, columellar length, nostril width symmetry, nostril height symmetry, and nasal tip projection, as well as overall morphologic improvement. The PLANA cohort received statistically significantly greater scores for alar base width symmetry (3.45 versus 2.35, P <0.001), alar base height symmetry (3.40 versus 2.55, P =0.02), columellar angle (3.70 versus 3.10, P =0.05), nostril width symmetry (3.65 versus 2.20, P <0.001), and overall outcome (3.65 versus 2.90, P =0.02). The 2 cohorts received similar ratings across all other parameters. Surgeons consistently rated PSIO outcomes as equivalent or superior with PLANA relative to NAM.