title: Taste and speech following surgical tongue reduction in children with Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome.
abstract: Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome (BWS) is an overgrowth disorder in which macroglossia is one of the main signs. We investigated the long-term outcome of tongue surgery reduction (TRS) on taste and speech in patients with BWS who were more than 5 years of age and had undergone surgical anterior wedge resection of the tongue. A questionnaire was used to assess medical history and to determine some aspects of speech, taste, psychological well-being, and degree of satisfaction with regard to TRS and tongue mobility. Speech sound error pattern and degree of intelligibility were measured by a speech therapist, and taste was assessed using a validated test. The degree of both intelligibility and satisfaction with the surgery was high. There were some speech errors; especially the interdental 's', addental 't', and addental 'd' were more noticed. We conclude that anterior wedge resection is an effective technique to treat macroglossia in children with BWS, and that it has no long-term consequences for intelligibility and taste perception and only limited consequences for speech.
authors.affiliation: Academic Medical Center, Department of Pediatrics, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Academic Medical Center, Department of Clinical Genetics, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Saskia M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Maas
authors.affiliation: Academic Medical Center, Department of Plastic Reconstructive and Hand Surgery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Daniel J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Kadouch
authors.affiliation: Academic Medical Center, Department of Audiology, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Anne-Claire C M
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Masselink
authors.affiliation: Academic Medical Center, Department of Plastic Reconstructive and Hand Surgery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Electronic address: c.m.vanderhorst@amc.uva.nl.
authors.forename: Chantal M A M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Van Der Horst
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001506:Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome / Q000601:surgery*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D000066498:Emotional Adjustment; D005260:Female; D005927:Glossectomy / Q000009:adverse effects; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008260:Macroglossia / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D013060:Speech; D013065:Speech Intelligibility; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013649:Taste; D014059:Tongue / Q000601:surgery
keywords: Beckwith–Wiedemann syndrome; Speech; Taste; Tongue reduction surgery