The Eurocleft study: Intercenter study of treatment outcome in patients with complete cleft lip and palate. Part 5: Discussion and conclusions

Objective: To review the lessons learned from a longitudinal intercenter comparison study. Design: Longitudinal cohort study. Setting: Multidisciplinary cleft services in Northern Europe. Subjects: Individuals with repaired complete unilateral cleft lip and palate. Main Outcomes Measures: The first four papers in this series report amount of treatment, cephalometric form, nasolabial appearance, dental arch relationship, patient/parent satisfaction. This paper considers the consistency of outcome at the five centers over time, and other relationships between outcomes. Results: Some outcomes measured in childhood can be predictive over time. The amount of treatment does not correlate with the quality of clinical outcome. Conclusions: Measurement of clinical outcome in childhood is an important and valid form of clinical audit. Intercenter studies are more informative than single center reports, and will have an important future role in cleft care.