Abstract:
The authors compared the morphological features of the Eustachian tube (ET) between patients with cleft lip and palate (CL/P) and normal controls using cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT). CBCT images of 51 CL/P patients (28 males and 23 females, mean age: 18.5 +/- 8.0 years) and a control group of 52 patients (22 males and 30 females, mean age: 25.23 +/- 10.65 years) were retrospectively evaluated. The Eustachian tube angle (ETA), Eustachian tube length (EL), and auditory tube angle (ATA) were measured on CBCT images. The ETA, EL, and ATA in the CL/P and normal control groups were 30.4 +/- 6.2 and 36.7 +/- 7.5 degrees; 24.7 +/- 3.7 and 27.7 +/- 4.3 mm; and 142.4 +/- 7.8 and 136.3 +/- 4.1 degrees, respectively. All between-group differences were statistically significant (allP < 0.05). There were no significant between-gender differences in either group (allP > 0.05). Continuous variables were compared using the Mann-Whitney U-test. The morphological features of the ET, measured via multiplanar reconstruction CBCT, differed between CL/P patients and normal controls. CBCT can be used to evaluate ET morphological features.