Labio-maxillo-palatal clefts: morphological and embryological aspects

Address for correspondence: O. TROST, Service de chirurgie maxillo-faciale et stomatologie, Hôpital du Bocage, C.H.U. de Dijon, 2 avenue de Lattre de Tassigny, 21000 Dijon. olivier.trost@chu-dijon.fr

Abstract

The designation labio-maxillo-palatal cleft is used to describe two types of congenital malformations of the palate. The mechanisms that create them occur in the early weeks of fetal life by an alteration of embryological message delivery that researchers have been able to analyze. But they have not as yet been able to discern the multi-factorial causes of this alteration.

Morphological embryology and its chronology are important because researchers use an understanding of them to distinguish between different entities of clefts on the basis of the stage of palatal formation in which they began to develop: the numerous molecules involved In cell development are already well known, but researchers have not yet precisely identified those that are associated with the various stages of palatal morphogenesis. But it is clear that genetic alterations, which are now being pin-pointed, trigger developmental malfunctionings that are later intensified by faulty interactions in the fetal-maternal environment because.

Conclusion: Although researchers are progressively gaining a better understanding of the mechanisms of the intra-uterine formation of labio-maxillo-palatal clefts, we have not yet acquired the broad range of data that would make it possible to correct defective palatal formation before birth.