ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: A number of studies have documented that the incidence of otitis media with effusion (OME) is greater than 90% in children with cleft palates. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the correlation of OME and mastoid pneumatization in children with cleft palate. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: We studied 175 ears in 95 patients. They were categorized into three groups according to otologic finding:normal children (38 ears), children with OME (89 ears), children with cleft palates (38 ears). The mastoid pnuematization was graded into 5 groups. RESULTS: The masoid pneumatization was relatively good in 76.3% of normal children. The mastoid pneumatization was poor in 40.4% of the children with OME. All children with cleft palate had OME in both ears and their mastoid pneumatizations were very poor, with 16.7% of grade IV and 83.3% of grade V. CONCLUSION: The mastoid pneumatization of children with cleft palate was very poor compared to those without cleft palate. We believe that mastoid pneumatization was influenced by the disease of middle ear and mastoid, environmental factors. Special consideration is needed to deal with otologic problems in children with cleft palate.