Use of the pharyngeal flap in the treatment of congenital velopharyngeal incompetence.
Seventy-four patients were referred to the senior author because of presumed velopharyngeal incompetence without cleft palate. As a result of an extensive preoperative evaluation that included assessment of articulation patterns, nasal emission, oronasal resonance, and general speech intelligibility, 57 of the 74 patients were selected for a pharyngeal flap procedure. In 54 of the 57 patients (95 percent), the operation corrected inappropriate nasal emission and hypernasality and improved intraoral air pressure to allow normal speech production.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010614:Pharynx / Q000601:surgery; D013062:Speech Articulation Tests; D013065:Speech Intelligibility; D013524:Surgical Flaps; D014681:Velopharyngeal Insufficiency / Q000151:congenital* / Q000601:surgery