Cleft palate repair: Furlow versus von Langenbeck

The Furlow cleft palate repair using a double opposing Z-plasty appears to be very promising. In order to detect advantages and disadvantages concerning the technique as well as speech- and hearing results, the Furlow palatoplasty was compared with the classical von Langenbeck technique. Data analysis from 10 children in both groups revealed that the Furlow technique proved to be superior to the von Langenbeck technique as far as speech sound is concerned: at a mean age of 3.5 years, nasality and nasal escape were absent in almost all cases. However, there were no significant differences between the techniques in respect of articulatory skills, language comprehension, language production as well as hearing. Technically, the Furlow technique is more difficult to perform, particularly in wide clefts.