A girl with isolated cleft palate, who had undergone cleft palate surgery elsewhere in her childhood, reported to our hospital seeking to correct her speech defect. Her speech had a nasal twang and the pronunciations of certain words were not clear.
Cleft afflicted individuals may have hypernasality or a nasal sounding speech. This condition is called velopharyngeal incompetence or VPI and occurs due to escape of air through the nose while speaking. Maxillofacial Surgeon Dr. S.M. Balaji performed a dynamic sphincter pharyngoplasty for VPI correction. Palatopharyngeus myomucosal flaps were raised from both sides, criss-crossed and rearranged leaving a small opening or “port” for breathing through the nose.
Positive suction test following sphincter pharyngoplasty shows new dynamic velopharyngeal sphincter action indicating successful correction of velopharyngeal incompetence.
Cleft afflicted individuals may have hypernasality or a nasal sounding speech. This condition is called velopharyngeal incompetence or VPI and occurs due to escape of air through the nose while speaking. Maxillofacial Surgeon Dr. S.M. Balaji performed a dynamic sphincter pharyngoplasty for VPI correction. Palatopharyngeus myomucosal flaps were raised from both sides, criss-crossed and rearranged leaving a small opening or “port” for breathing through the nose.
Positive suction test following sphincter pharyngoplasty shows new dynamic velopharyngeal sphincter action indicating successful correction of velopharyngeal incompetence.
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