Objective:
The first line treatment in correction of velopharyngeal insufficiency secondary to cleft palate repair is currently the pharyngeal flap procedure. The aim of this study is to demonstrate if the speech results are affected from the pharyngeal flap division applied to patients with obstructive complaints comparing the preoperative and postoperative speech results.
Material and Methods:
9 patients operated with superior based pharyngeal flap for correction of velopharyngeal insufficiency secondary to cleft palate repair were included in the study. In order to evaluate the speech results using objective criteria, postoperative motility and closure of the velopharyngeal unit was examined with nasopharyngoscope and preoperative and postoperative nasalance scores specific to certain phonemes were compared.
Results:
5 patients (55.5%) included in the study were female whereas 4 of them (44.5%) were male. The mean age of the female patients operated for flap division was 22.25±8.22, and it was 15.20±12.89 years for male patients. The mean follow up patients from the pharyngeal flap surgery to division was 17.11±4.01 months. Comparison of the preoperative and postoperative nasalance scores of the patients did not demonstrate significant results (p>0.05 for all syllables).
Conclusion:
Division of pharyngeal flap in the long term in respect to relief of obstructive complaints appears not to affect the speech results. Further studies related with this issue and necessity of simultaneous palatal lengthening procedures for optimizing the results would make great contribution.
Keywords: cleft palate, speech disorders, velopharyngeal insufficiency