Submucous cleft palate: a grading system and review of 40 consecutive submucous cleft palate repairs

This study was designed to determine whether velar surgery was worthwhile for submucous cleft palate (SMCP) and evaluate whether results were dependent on the degree of the anatomical abnormality.

A prospective study of a consecutive series of patients fulfilling the entry criteria, assessed blindly from records arranged randomly.

Fifty-eight patients diagnosed with SMCP and operated on by a single surgeon between June 1991 and April 1997 were reviewed. Forty patients fulfilled the entry criteria. Minimum follow-up was 6 years.

Radical reconstruction of the soft palate musculature was performed by one surgeon using the operating microscope. A scoring system was devised for grading the anatomical severity of submucous cleft (SMCP score).

Postoperative hypernasality and nasal emission scores and the degrees of improvement were considered the primary outcome measures, and the degree of velopharyngeal closure was also assessed.

There were highly significant improvements in hypernasality, nasal emission, and velopharyngeal closure. A preoperative gap size of more than 13 mm was associated with less satisfactory outcomes, but gap size was not predictive of improvement. Severity of the SMCP did not correlate with the degree of preoperative speech abnormality but was a significant predictor of outcome of surgery, with the less severe (total SMCP score of 0 to 3) having less satisfactory end results and lesser degrees of improvement. Patients with less abnormal muscle anatomy had lesser degrees of improvement.

Repair of the muscle abnormality in SMCP is recommended as the first line of treatment in most cases.