[Neurologic disturbances in children with cleft lip and cleft palate]. / Nevrologicheskie narusheniya u detei s rasshchelinoi guby i neba.

AIM: Neurological symptoms of genetic syndromes, including congenital cleft lip and palate (CLP) are well-studied while neurological characteristics of patients with non-syndromal CLP are not described. The authors studied neurological disturbances in CLP. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Twenty-one patients with CLP, mean age 12.0±4.7 years (the main group) were compared to healthy people (the control group). RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Elements of bulbar syndrome (atrophy and deviation of the tongue, sagging of the soft palate, specific speech disturbances) and mimic innervation abnormalities (hypomimia or hypermimia, face asymmetry), microfocal neurological symptoms occurred significantly more frequently (p<0.01) in patients of the main group. Bulbar disorders, identified in 100% of the patients, were most characteristic of CLP. The neurological features of patients with CLP demonstrate the involvement of the brain stem, mimic innervation, bulbar cranial nerves and defects of the development of the neural tube.

[Tongue structure, position and function in cleft lip and palate children assessed by ultrasound examination].

The aim of the study was to examine the position and function of the tongue in cleft lip and palate (CLP) patients and to reveal their impact on alveolar bone development. Two hundred and fifty-eight CLP children and 50 healthy children as control group were included in the study. Tongue function and position were assessed by ultrasound examination. In CLP patients the dorsum of the tongue was deformed and the asymmetry of some tongue structures was also found out (mainly the massive of the tongue muscles). Low tip and high dorsum position were specific for CLP children as well as discoordinated tongue movements. Both in static and dynamic condition the tongue was pressed to the lower alveolar bone thus disturbing its development. The obtained data showed tongue position and function to be one of the causes for lower promacrognathy and lingual inclination of incisors in CLP patients. The absence of tongue impact on the upper alveolar bone should be seen as one of the factors for upper retromicrognathy.