Primary Repair of Broad Bilateral Complete Cleft Palate With Hard Palate Rotation Flap

Abstract

It was hard to achieve primary repair for infants with broad bilateral complete cleft palate, and usually multiple procedures are demanded, resulting in multiple injuries and scar hyperplasia, which could influence infants' long-term phonetic function. In this study, primary repair was carried out on 12 cases of 18- to 30-month-old infants who had complete cleft palate by using rotated hard palate flap with a pedicle on the edge of the fissure modified on the basis of traditional von Langenbeck palatoplasty. Eight infants were subjected to initial phonetic sound evaluation at 1 to 2 years after the operation. All the 12 cases of infant complete cheilopalatognathus had fine healing, and no complications such as dyspnea and fistulous opening in palate were observed. The effects of phonetic sound in 8 infants who had this disease were significantly improved as observed in the long-term follow-up. Thus, we consider it as a reliable and feasible procedure to perform hard palate mucosa rotation flap for the primary repair of broad bilateral complete cleft palate. The procedure is simple, while it produces satisfactory therapeutic effects, by which the patients with complete cleft palate could achieve good recovery in their phonetic functions.