Objective: Measurement of treatment outcome is crucial in estimating the success of cleft management. The aim of this study was to assess the surgical outcome of cleft lip and palate surgery.

Methods: The surgical outcome of 131 consecutive patients who had cleft lip and palate surgeries between October 2008 and December 2010 were prospectively evaluated at least 4 weeks post-operatively. Data collected included age, sex, type of cleft defects and type of surgery done and post operative complications. For cleft lip repair, the Pennsylvania Lip and Nose (PLAN) score was used to assess surgical outcome while the integrity of the closure was used for cleft palate repair.

Results: A total of 81 lip repair and 57 had palate repair. Overall, 68.8% cases of cleft lip and palate repair had a good outcome. When cleft lip and palate were considered separately, 67.9% of lip repairs had a good lip and nose score while 70.2% of palatal repair had good surgical outcome. Oro-fistula was observed in 29.8% of cleft palate repairs Inter-rater reliability coefficient was substantially significant.

Conclusions: Pennyslvannia Lip and Nose (PLAN) score is a reliable tool to assess surgical outcome for cleft lip repair. Although an overall good treatment outcome was demonstrated in this study, the nasal score was poorer than the lip score.

Key words : cleft lip and palate; von Langenbeck; Pennyslvannia Lip and Nose score