Prenatal Counseling, Ultrasound Diagnosis, and the Role of Maternal-Fetal Medicine of the Cleft Lip and Palate Patient

Abstract

A multidisciplinary team is the standard of care and the cornerstone of management of cleft patients. With readily improving advanced diagnostic modalities, early prenatal diagnosis of cleft lip and palate increasingly becomes a topic of importance for both the team caring for and families of cleft patients. Maternal-fetal medicine is a fellowship subspecialty of obstetrics that can offer high-quality care and coordination to the cleft team. Both 3-D and 4-D sonography lead to early prenatal diagnosis of cleft patients; however, differences in training result in variations in its diagnostic accuracy.

Keywords: 3D/4D ultrasonography; Cleft; Congenital facial anomalies; Maternal fetal medicine; Prenatal diagnosis.