A survey of cleft lip and palate management taught in training programs in Korea

Abstract

Objective: A national survey was conducted to obtain an overall view of the status, assess changes in trends of cleft management, and study new categories of interest.

Method: Questionnaires were sent to 90 chief residents of all Korean institutes with plastic surgery training programs.

Results: Forty-eight respondents returned completed questionnaires. The results were: (1) the most common unilateral cleft lip repair method used is the rotation-advancement technique (100%); (2) 73% of respondents correct cleft lip nasal deformity at preschool age; (3) the Millard technique is the most common management in bilateral cleft lip repair (65%); (4) in the management of protruding premaxilla, 44% of the respondents choose presurgical orthopedics; (5) the usual cleft palate repairs are the pushback (64%) and double-opposing Z-plasty (43%) in complete cleft palates and the double-opposing Z-plasty (75%) and pushback (36%) comprised the common techniques in incomplete cases; (6) 86% of responding programs perform alveolar cleft repairs during the period of mixed dentition; the most common treatment of velopharyngeal incompetence is pharyngeal flap (71%); and (8) the interdisciplinary team approach is practiced by 64% of respondents.

Conclusions: Many changes were noted since a previous 1995 survey. We hope that this study provides the necessary information needed for the eventual establishment of standard cleft management in Korea.