The Airflow Dynamics of Normal Velopharyngeal Closure and Closure after Posterior Pharyngeal Flap Palatoplasty

Abstract

For revealing the relationship between the velopharyngeal (VP) orifice areas and the conditions of VP closure, which included adequate closure (AC), adequate/borderline closure (ABC), borderline/inadequate closure (BIC), and inadequate closure (IC), a pressure-flow device was established by Warren last century (1). However, this manufactured device cannot guarantee the accuracy because of its huge difference from human upper airway. Thus, the protocol of surgical maneuvers like the postpharyngeal flap (PF), which was based on the outcomes from Warren’s study, could be less reliable (2). Meanwhile, there are 2 ports after PF, which could also influence the airflow dynamics compared to the normal VP closure. In this study, real-time computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was applied to demonstrate the differences of the airflow dynamics between 1 port and 2 ports of the VP structure, which represented the normal VP closure and VP closure after PF, respectively.