Prenatal detection of orofacial clefts

Orofacial clefts are one of the most common congenital anomalies. The incidence is approximately 1 : 500 to 1 : 550 births [1]. The group of orofacial anomalies is heterogeneous. It comprises “typical” orofacial clefts ((cleft lip (CL), cleft lip and cleft palate (CLP) and cleft palate only (CP)) and “atypical” clefts (median, transversal, oblique and other Tessier’s types of facial clefts)[1]. The Tessier classification is an internationally accepted anatomical classification system that assigns a number to each cleft on the basis of its position relative to the sagittal midline [2]. An embryological-based classification was published by Mazzola R and Mazzola I [3].