Cleft Palate and Presurgical Orthopedics: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Intra-Arch Dimensions During the First Year of Life.

: This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to investigate the effects of presurgical orthopedics (PSO) on maxillary arch dimensions in infants with cleft lip and palate during the first year of life. : The review was conducted following PRISMA guidelines. A comprehensive electronic search was performed in MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane, Scopus, and Google Scholar databases, supplemented by manual searching. Two reviewers independently conducted study selection, data extraction, quality assessment, and risk of bias evaluation. : Five studies were included in the meta-analysis. Quantitative analysis was performed based on the primary outcomes. The estimate was calculated using a random-effects model and z distribution (95% confidence interval (CI)). The results showed similar alveolar cleft widths (mean difference, -3.06; 95% CI, -8.03 to 2.70, = 0.30, I2 = 99%) with clinical differences in favor of PSO, and comparable posterior cleft widths (mean difference, -0.88; 95% CI, -2.06 to 0.30, = 0.14, I2 = 89%) with and without PSO in CLP babies. : This meta-analysis found no statistically significant effects of presurgical orthopedic treatment on maxillary arch dimensions in infants with cleft lip and palate during the first year of life. Further high-quality randomized controlled trials are needed to definitively establish the efficacy of PSO.