Surgical Management of Submucous Cleft Palate by Radical Muscle Dissection Veloplasty: Speech Outcomes in Patients with 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome

Objective To evaluate the benefit of anatomical muscle dissection repair for velopharyngeal insufficiency (VPI) in patients with submucous cleft palate (SMCP) with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome. Design Retrospective blinded randomised analysis of a surgeon's management over 10 years. Setting The study was performed at a specialised Paediatric hospital in the United Kingdom. Patients Children with SMCP and 22q11.2 deletion syndrome. Interventions All participants underwent radical muscle dissection veloplasty. Outcomes measured Pre- and post- operative measurements included severity of anatomical defect, speech samples and lateral images which were digitised, randomised then externally and blindly analysed using validated techniques. Stata software was used to perform statistical analysis. Results 57 children with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome were included in this analysis. Intra-operatively, the majority of cases were identified as SMCP Grade I anomalies. Post-operatively, a statistically significant improvement in hypernasality, resting palate length, palate length at maximum closure, palate excursion and gap size at maximum closure was observed. Secondary surgery was performed for 59% of patients by ten years. Conclusion Muscle dissection repair improves hypernasality, palate closure function and the closure gap in patients with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome. Although over 50% of patients may require further surgery, muscle dissection repair should be a first step due to its utility at a younger age, when invasive investigations are impossible, its lower morbidity, speech and language benefits or altering the plans for less obstructive secondary surgery when it lead to reduced velo-pharyngeal gap and improved palate mobility even when adequate velo-pharyngeal closure was not achieved.