title: [Functional results of velopharyngoplasty: apropos of 55 cases].
abstract: From 1991 until 1998, 55 three to twelve year-old patients underwent a velopharyngoplasty to correct velopharyngeal insufficiency. They had indeed severe hypernasality with or without gross reflux of food matter into the nasal cavities or behavioural disturbances. Eighty-two percent had a closed cleft palate. Forty percent presented with mental retardation, heart diseases or multiple syndromal defects. They all had had a previous speech therapy for a long (months) or a very long (years) period of time. In the post operative period, hypernasality disappeared totally or partially in eighty-five percent; reflux disappeared in almost all cases. Middle ear pathologies were not more frequent and were also less severe. Behavioral disturbances associated with a severe speech defect were also less pronounced.
authors.affiliation: Université Catholique de Louvain, Cliniques Universitaires St Luc, Service ORL et d'Audiophonologie, 10 avenue Hippocrate, B-1200 Bruxelles, Belgique.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Deggouj
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Derue
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Huaux
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dutillieux
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Monteyne
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gersdorff
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vanwijck
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bayet
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002972:Cleft Palate / Q000601:surgery; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000175:diagnosis; D010160:Palate, Soft / Q000601:surgery*; D010614:Pharynx / Q000601:surgery*; D017286:Polysomnography; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D012086:Reoperation; D013070:Speech Therapy; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014681:Velopharyngeal Insufficiency / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery*