Noncleft velopharyngeal insufficiency: etiology and need for surgical treatment

Objective. Velopharyngeal insufficiency (VPI) occurs frequently in cleft palate patients. VPI also occurs in patients without cleft palate, but little is known about this patient population and this presents a diagnostic dilemma. Our goal is to review the etiology of noncleft VPI and the surgical treatment involved. Design/Patients. A retrospective review of VPI patients from 1990 to 2005. Demographic, genetic, speech, and surgical data were collected. We compared the need for surgery and outcomes data between noncleft and cleft VPI patients using a Student's t-test. Results. We identified 43 patients with noncleft VPI, of which 24 were females and 19 were males. The average age at presentation of noncleft VPI was 9.6 years (range 4.5-21). The average patient age at the time of study was 13.4 years. The etiology of VPI in these noncleft patients was neurologic dysfunction 44%, syndrome-associated 35%, postadenotonsillectomy 7%, and multiple causes 14%. The need for surgical intervention in the noncleft VPI group was 37% (15/43) compared to the cleft palate controls, which was 27% (12/43). There was not a statistical difference between these two groups (P > 0.5). Conclusion. Noncleft VPI often occurs in patients who have underlying neurologic disorders or have syndromes. The rate of speech surgery to address VPI is similar to that of cleft palate patients. We propose that newly diagnosed noncleft VPI patients should undergo a thorough neurologic and genetic evaluation prior to surgery.