Pre-treatment Factors Affecting Post-treatment Velopharyngeal Incompetency in Patients with Unilateral Cleft Lip and Palate Treated with Maxillary Rigid External Distraction

Maxillary advancement (MA) with rigid external distraction (RED) to correct mid-face deficiency in adult cases with cleft lip and palate (CLP) may trigger velopharyngeal incompetency (VPI) post-surgically. Aim and objectives: To determine pre-treatment factors affecting worsening of post-surgical VPI in patients with repaired unilateral CLP who underwent MA with RED. Material and methods: Treatment records of 10 patients with unilateral CLP who underwent MA with RED were selected from institutional archives. All patients underwent clinical evaluation of velopharyngeal function at T1 (1 week before surgery) and T2 (3 months after surgery). Based on post-surgical VPI status, patients were divided into 2 groups: group 1 (no change in VPI) and group 2 (worsened VPI). Lateral cephalograms were manually traced at T1 and T2 to determine the changes in length of soft palate (LSP) and pharyngeal depth (PD) at T2. The information regarding amount of MA and presence of pre-surgical VPI was obtained from case sheets of patients. Results: Mean LSP and PD at T2 were higher compared to T1 ( p-value .05 for all). The worsened VPI post-surgically was significantly associated with the presence of VPI pre-surgically and also with the amount of MA ( p-value < .05 for both). Conclusions: Amount of MA and presence of pre-surgical VPI are most important factors affecting post-surgical VPI. Prospective studies are recommended to validate the findings of this study.