• Korean Journal of Cleft Lip And Palate
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.141-150
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• 2004

The cleft lip and palate charity operation team visited Binh Duong General Hospital in Vietnam from 17th Dec to 25th Dec 2004. Total 25 cleft lip and palate patients (male : female = 15:10) were undergone the operation. The mean age of the patients was 13.6 year. The types of surgical operation were primary cheilorrhaphy (8 cases), primary palatorrhaphy(10 cases), pharyngoplasty(2 cases), scar revision(3 cases), alveolorrhaphy(2 cases). There were no intraoperative and immediate postoperative complications. The year 2004 was the 10th charity operation in the same area so it is meaningful to review the start of this charity mission and the course, and the future of our activity.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.338-345
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• 1991

Velopharyngeal incompetence (VPI) is a condition of inadequate functional valving between the oral and nasal cavities that results in hypernasal speech and nasal air escape. VPI is caused by the following factors ; cleft palate, soft palate defect, pharyngomegaly, velopharyngeal sphincter muscle anomaly and maxillary advancement surgery, etc. Velopharyngeal function is assessed by a variety of measures that include speech evaluation, cephalogram, airflow study, videofluoroscopy and nasoendoscopy. The management of VPI is classified into four main groups ; prosthesis, insertion of implant, palatoplasty and pharyngoplasty. Pharyngeal flap is the most common surgical procedure for correcting VPI since Schoenborn's report in 1875. We report seven cases of VPI which were treated by modified modified superiorly based pharyngeal flap with good results.

• Archives of Craniofacial Surgery
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.102-106
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• 2011

Purpose: It is accepted universally that correction of the cleft lip nasal deformity requires multiple stages of surgery. Following primary lip repair in infancy or early childhood, secondary surgery to improve the deformity of the lip and nose is frequently necessary. A suitable surgical procedure to correct the accompanying deformity, such as cleft palate and alveolus, must be carried out at an appropriate age. In developing countries, it is common for patients with cleft lip nasal deformity to present severe secondary deformities in adolescence, because of poor follow-up and inappropriate surgery. Methods: The first patient was a 12 year old Mongolian boy. He presented prominent lip scar, short lip, wide columella, asymmetric nostril, palatal fistula, cleft alveolus, and velopharyngeal incompetence. He underwent cheilorhinoplasty, transpositional flap, alveoloplasty by iliac bone graft, and sphincter pharyngoplasty. On follow-up, a bilateral maxillary hypoplasia and a class III malocclusion developed. He underwent LeFort I osteotomy and maxillary advancement at the age of 16 years. The second patient was an 18 year old Eastern Russian girl. She presented with a deviated nose, right alar base depression, short lip, protrusion on vermilion, large palatal fistula, and severe VPI due to short palate. She underwent the combined procedure of cheilorhinoplasty, corrective rhinoplasty, tongue flap for palatal fistula, and superiorly based pharyngeal flap. And the tongue flap was detached at postoperative 3 weeks. Results: The overall results have been extremely pleasing and satisfactory to patients. There were no postoperative complications. Conclusion: We discovered the one stage operation for radical correction was sufficient procedure to provide excellent clinical outcomes in patients with severe cleft lip nose deformity.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.41
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• pp.19.1-19.6
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• 2019

Background: The submucous cleft palate (SMCP) is a type of cleft palate that may result in velopharyngeal insufficiency (VPI). Palate muscles completely separate oral and nasal cavities by closing off the velopharynx during functional processes such as speech or swallow. Also, hypernasality may arise from anatomical or neurological abnormalities in these functions. Treatments of this issue involve a combination of surgical intervention, speech aid, and speech therapy. This case report demonstrates successfully treated VPI resulted from SMCP without any surgical intervention but solely with speech aid appliance and speech therapy. Case presentation: A 13-year-old female patient with a speech disorder from velopharyngeal insufficiency that was caused by a submucous cleft palate visited to our OMFS clinic. In the intraoral examination, the patient had a short soft palate and bifid uvula. And the muscles in the palate did not contract properly during oral speech. She had no surgical history such as primary palatoplasty or pharyngoplasty except for tonsillectomy. And there were no other medical histories. Objective speech assessment using nasometer was performed. We diagnosed that the patient had a SMCP. The patient has shown a decrease in speech intelligibility, which resulted from hypernasality. We decided to treat the patient with speech aid (palatal lift) along with speech therapy. During the 7-month treatment, hypernasality measured by a nasometer decreased and speech intelligibility became normal. Conclusions: Surgery remains the first treatment option for patients with velopharyngeal insufficiencies from submucous cleft palates. However, there were few reports about objective speech evaluation pre- or post-operation. Moreover, there has been no report of non-surgical treatment in the recent studies. From this perspective, this report of objective improvement of speech intelligibility of VPI patient with SMCP by non-surgical treatment has a significant meaning. Speech aid can be considered as one of treatment options for management of SMCP.