Kimia R, Solot CB, McCormack SM, Cohen M, Blum JD, Villavisanis DF, Vora N, Valenzuela Z, Taylor JA, Low DW, Jackson OA. Speech Outcomes Following Operative Management of Velopharyngeal Dysfunction (VPD) in Non-Syndromic Post-Palatoplasty Cleft Palate Patients.
Cleft Palate Craniofac J 2024;
61:1007-1017. [PMID:
36749038 DOI:
10.1177/10556656231154808]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE
Approximately 30% of patients with a history of repaired cleft palate (CP) go on to suffer from velopharyngeal dysfunction (VPD). This study discusses the operative management of VPD and postoperative speech outcomes in a cohort of CP patients.
SETTING
An academic tertiary pediatric care center.
METHODS
Retrospective cohort study.
PATIENTS
Patients with history of repaired CP (Veau I-IV) who underwent operative management of VPD between January 1st, 2010 and December 31st, 2020. Operative modalities were posterior pharyngeal flap (PPF), sphincter pharyngoplasty (SPP), Furlow palate re-repair, and buccal myomucosal flap palate lengthening (PL).
OUTCOME MEASURES
The primary outcome measure is postoperative speech improvement evaluated by the Pittsburgh Weighted Speech Scale (PWSS).
RESULTS
97 patients met inclusion criteria. 38 patients with previous straight-line primary palatoplasty underwent Furlow re-repair; these patients were significantly younger (7.62 vs 11.14, P < .001) and were more likely to have severe VPD per PWSS (OR 4.28, P < .01, 95% CI 1.46-12.56) when compared to VPD patients with previous Furlow repair. 21.1% of these patients required an additional non-revisional VPD procedure. The remaining patients underwent a non-revision procedure (26 PPF, 22 SPP, 11 PL); all experienced significant (P < .001 on paired t-test) reductions in PWSS total and subgroup VPD severity scores without difference in improvement between operation types. SPP was statistically associated with all-cause complication (OR 2.79, 95% CI 1.03-7.59, P < .05) and hyponasality (OR 3.27, 95% CI 1.112-9.630, P < .05).
CONCLUSION
Furlow re-repair reduced need for additional VPD operations. Speech outcomes between non-revisional operations are comparable, but increased complications were seen in SPP.
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