Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 17, 2026
Isolation and Characterization of Satellite Cells from Rat Head Branchiomeric Muscles
Published on: July 20, 2015
Tensor veli palatini preservation, transection, and transection with tensor tenopexy during cleft palate repair and
Roberto L Flores1, Bethany L Jones, Joseph Bernstein
1Indianapolis, Ind.; Iowa City, Iowa; and New York, N.Y. From the Division of Plastic Surgery, Riley Hospital for Children, Indiana University Medical Center; the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Surgery, and Department of Otolaryngology, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics; and the Department of Otolaryngology and the Institute of Reconstructive Plastic Surgery, New York University Medical Center.
Background:
During cleft palate repair, levator sling palatoplasty with tensor veli palatini tendon transection significantly improves speech results. However, the procedure may pose a risk to eustachian tube function. This study assesses the impact of three types of palatoplasty techniques on eustachian tube function: no tensor transection, tensor transection alone, and a new addition to the palatoplasty technique, tensor tenopexy.
Methods:
A retrospective review was conducted of all patients undergoing cleft palate repair at two institutions between 1997 and 2001. Three cleft palate repair groups were studied: no tensor transection (n = 64), tensor transection alone (n = 31), and tensor tenopexy (n = 52). The percentages of patients requiring myringotomy tubes at each year of age were compared among the three groups.
Results:
By 7 years of age, there was a significantly decreased need for myringotomy tubes in patients who underwent no tensor transection compared with patients who underwent tensor transection alone (38 percent versus 61 percent, respectively; p = 0.05), as well as for patients who underwent tensor tenopexy compared with patients who underwent tensor veli palatini tendon transection (23 percent versus 61 percent, respectively; p < 0.001). Also, by the age of 7, there was a trend toward a decreased need for myringotomy tubes in patients who underwent tensor tenopexy compared with patients who underwent no tensor transection (23 percent versus 38 percent, respectively; p = 0.11).
Conclusions:
No tensor transection and tensor tenopexy significantly decrease the need for myringotomy tubes compared with tensor transection alone. There is a small decrease in the need for myringotomy tubes when comparing tensor tenopexy with no tensor transection.
