Surgical Correction of Submucous Cleft Palate with Furlow's Palatoplasty

ABSTRACT

Furlow's palatoplasty has been used as the primary treatment for cleft palate. From 1991 to 1999, 24 submucous cleft palate patients underwent Furlow's palatoplasty. The follow-up period was 3 months to 8 years (mean 24 months). Patients were selected after a thorough study for velopharyngeal insufficiency including intraoral examinatioin, speech assessment, digital subtraction radiography (DSR). Postoperatively velopharyngeal function was reevaluated with speech assessment and digital subtraction radiography in the 7 cooperative patients. Speech parameters including hypernasality, nasal emission, and Allison scale were improved after surgery. Digital subtraction radiography provided the value of velopharyngeal gap and the degree of the motion of lateral pharyngeal wall, both of which were improved after surgery. Furlows palatoplasty has advantage such as no impairment of nasopharyngeal physiology, no hannful effect on the hard palate and the realignment of the levator muscle which plays important role on the movement of the soft palate. The results show that a Furlow's palatoplasty can satisfactorily correct velopharyngeal insufficiency in carefully selected submucous cleft palate patients.