The correlation between training and skill of the surgeon and reoperation rate for persistent cleft palate speech

The correlation between the surgeons training and skill and the speech after primary repair was tested using the reoperation rate as a measure for success in 439 cleft palate/cleft lip and palate (CP/CLP) patients operated at the average age of 22 months by 4 specialists and 4 residents. The reoperation rate for residents was 11-60% (av. 36) and for specialists 13-31% (av. 19). The relative reoperation rates in CP/CLP were 20/19% for specialists but 35/38% residents. In groups consisting of the four with the best (A) and the four with the worst results (B) the reoperations rate in group A was 16% for CP and 13% for CLP, but in group B 37/44%. As the residents became specialists, the degree of their improvement varied greatly. Thus both the training and skill are important for the patients speech, but they are not necessarily synonymous terms.