PubMed1975
This study evaluated results of the two surgical procedures for repair of cleft palate. Simple closure using the Von Langenbeck technique was compared with the V-Y retroposition technique as modified by Wardill and Kilner. The population consisted of two groups of children who were similar in chronological age and intelligence and for whom surgery was performed at an average age of 1 year, 11 months, in the simple closure group and 1 year, 8 months, in the V-Y repair group. In the early pre-school years, the children were evaluated in the areas of intelligence, language, hypernasality hearing, articulation, and voice quality. The two groups were found to be roughly similar in intelligence, language, and articulation at that time. The simple closure group was at first found to be slightly more hoarse than the V-Y repair group while the latter was found to have slightly more hypernasality. Hearing acuity was somewhat poorer in the simple closure group. The final evaluation was carried out when the mean chronological ages were 10 years, 1 month, for the simple closure group and 10 years, 2 months, for the V-Y repair group. Included in the second assessment were measurements of intelligence, language, articulation, nasal resonance, hoarseness, nasal emission, hearing, and velopharyngeal closure, The groups were judged to roughly comparable in intelligence, language, articulation, hypernasality, nasal emission, and velopharyngeal closure. A difference between groups occurred in regard to hearing acuity where the simple closure group showed slightly more hearing loss. This group was also judged to have more hoarseness. In regard to velopharyngeal closure, it was noted that all subjects in both groups had mechanisms of adequate or borderline efficiency. However, the children in the simple closure group compared as well as they did with the V-Y retroposition group only after 27 per cent had had secondary procedures as compared to 11 per cent in the V-Y repair group...