Three-dimensional imaging of soft and hard facial tissues in patients with craniofacial syndromes: a systematic review of methodological quality

Objectives: To systematically review the xmethodological quality of three-dimensional (3D) imaging studies of patients with craniofacial syndromes and to propose recommendations for future research. Methods: PubMed, Embase and Cochrane databases as well as Grey literature were electronically searched. Inclusion criteria were patients with genetic syndromes with craniofacial manifestations and 3D imaging of facial soft and/or hard tissues. Exclusion criteria consisted of non-syndromic conditions or conditions due to environmental causes, injury or trauma, facial soft and hard tissues not included in the image analysis, case reports, reviews, opinion articles. No restrictions were made for patients' ethnicity nor age, publication language or publication date. Study quality was evaluated using the Methodological Index for Non-Randomized Studies (MINORS). Results: The search yielded 2228 citations of which 116 were assessed in detail and 60 were eventually included in this review. Studies showed a large heter...