Cleft lip and palate associated with malformation of the central nervous system: a prospective neurosonographic study

A prospective neurosonographic study was undertaken on 190 patients with non-syndrome cleft lip and/or palate. Among them, six cases (3.2%) demonstrated malformations of the central nervous system. Included were four cases of midline cleft lip and palate showing holoprosencephaly; one case of bilateral cleft lip and midline cleft palate showing dysplasia of the septum pallicidum and one case of bilateral cleft lip and palate showing dysgenesis of corpus callosum. The patients with midline clefts were not obligatory associated with malformation of the brain, but their incidence was higher (four of nine case or 44.4%). The neurosonogram provides a portable, low cost, non-invasive and efficient technique in the diagnosis of gross anomaly of the neonatal brain, and can thus serve as a screening test in those patients with clefts.