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Acquired palatal groove and delayed oral feeding in preterm infants
Author(s) -
Enomoto Masahiro,
Sezaki Hiromi,
Muranishi Rie,
Sato Yumi,
Kikuchi Shin,
Katayama Yoshinori,
Takei Atsuko,
Ikegami Hitoshi,
Sakuma Mio,
Minami Hirotaka
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
pediatrics international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.49
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1442-200X
pISSN - 1328-8067
DOI - 10.1111/ped.13113
Subject(s) - medicine , groove (engineering) , choking , incidence (geometry) , gestational age , dentistry , hard palate , pediatrics , pregnancy , anatomy , materials science , physics , genetics , biology , optics , metallurgy
Abstract Background Acquired palatal groove has been reported in the 1970s and 1980s, but its current incidence in Japanese newborns is unclear. The aims of this study were to determine the incidence of palatal groove in preterm infants and to evaluate whether this condition affects oral feeding ability. Methods We conducted a prospective observational study among very low‐birthweight infants born at Takatsuki General Hospital, Osaka, between March and October in 2010. The shape of the hard palate was classified into three types: normal, narrow high‐arched palate, and palatal groove. Results Among the 37 enrolled infants, 14 (38%) had palatal groove. In particular, among the 29 infants with birthweight <1000 g, palatal groove was observed in 48% of these patients, and only 10% were normal. Infants with palatal groove were ventilated for considerably more days with oral endotracheal tube than those without palate groove, even after adjustment for gestational age, birthweight, and duration of oral duodenal tube placement ( OR , 1.11). Establishment of oral feeding and disappearance of choking on milk were considerably delayed in infants with palatal groove. Transient oral feeding difficulty requiring thickened‐feed intervention was observed only in infants with palatal groove; on multi‐regression analysis this difficulty seemed to be induced by the palatal groove. Conclusions Palatal groove formation induced by oral endotracheal intubation occurs with a high frequency in preterm infants, and this is likely to affect oral feeding ability.