Detection of middle ear disease in cleft-palate patients.

A prospective study of 17 cleft-palate patients under the age of 37 months was performed. The otoscopic findings, as reported by the primary physician and otolaryngologist, were compared with the results of tympanometry. Preoperatively, all tympanograms were abnormal. Ears with an AS pattern were not described as abnormal by any physician, and postoperatively, these ears all progresses to a more advanced stage of disease.