Cleft Palate Cran J
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Cleft Palate Cran J · Jul 2017
Oral Clefts and Academic Performance in Adolescence: The Impact of Anesthesia-Related Neurotoxicity, Timing of Surgery, and Type of Oral Clefts.
Early life exposure to anesthesia and surgery is suspected to associate with cognitive impairment later in life. We compared academic achievement among adolescents with cleft lip only (CL), cleft palate only (CP), and cleft lip and cleft palate (CLP) with a noncleft control group to investigate whether outcome depends on timing and number of operations during childhood and/or type of oral cleft. ⋯ Oral cleft type rather than number and timing of anesthesia and operations associate to poorer academic performance. Although a potential neurotoxic effect due to anesthetic agents is not reflected in the data, it cannot be completely excluded.