Evaluation of prenatal diagnosis of cleft lip with or without cleft palateand cleft palate by ultrasound: experience from 20 European registries

Ultrasound scans in the mid-trimester of pregnancy are now a routine part o f antenatal care in most European countries. Using data from registries of congenital anomalies a study was undertaken in Europe. The objective of the study was to evaluate prenatal detection of cleft lip with or without clef t palate (CL(P)) and cleft palate (CP). All CL(P) and CPs suspected prenata lly and identified at birth in the period 1996-98 were registered from 20 C ongenital Malformation Registers from the following European countries: Aus tria, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Spain, Switzerla nd, The Netherlands, UK, Ukraine. These registries followed the same method ology. A total of 709 027 births were covered; 7758 cases with congenital m alformations were registered. Included in the study were 751 cases reported with facial clefts: 553 CL(P) and 198 CP. The prenatal diagnosis by transa bdominal ultrasound of CL(P) was made in 65/366 cases with an isolated malf ormation, in 32/62 cases with chromosomal anomaly, in 30/89 cases with mult iple malformations and in 21/36 syndromic cases. The prenatal diagnosis of CP was made in 13/198 cases. One hundred pregnancies were terminated (13%); in 97 of these the cleft was associated with other malformations. Copyrigh t (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.