Duration of speech therapy in patients with or without velopharyngeal insufficency after palatoplasty / 中华口腔医学杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the duration of speech therapy of patients with or without velopharyngeal insufficency after palatoplasty.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>One hundred and one cleft-palate patients with velopharyngeal incompetence (VPI) and eighty-seven without VPI were selected in the study. The treatment times of the patients who completed the speech therapy were counted and analyzed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The mean treatment frequency in VPI group was 17 times, and in the group without VPI this number was 13 (P < 0.05). In 39 VPI patients with signs of velocardiofaical syndrome, the mean treatment frequency was 19 times, and the mean treatment frequency of the other 62 patents with nonsyndromic VPI was 15 times (P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The duration of speech therapy in VPI patients is longger than that in patients without VPI after palatoplasy, but individualized treatment is necessary.</p>