Abstract

The reason for lip and cleft palate is due to a congenital malformation characterized by the interruption in the continuity of tissue. The primary surgery of the palate velum allows us to reconstruct the lost morphology in the velum palate, however this doesn´t always consider the return of the uvula muscle anatomy, whereby the operated velum becomes an anomalous anatomy thus preventing an optimum closing between the nasal and oral cavity; this condition is known as pharyngeal velum insufficiency. The aim was to associate palate velum morphology with pharyngeal velum insufficiency on cleft palate operated patients. An analytical study was done, using the velum palate as sample; the sample was selected amongst patients who met the inclusion criteria. A photographic record and a clinical exam were done on those patients who were chosen in order to classify the anatomy of the velum palate. Subsequently a phonoaudiological evaluation was done in order to establish the degree of pharyngeal velum insufficiency. The data obtained were statistically tabulated and evaluated. The morphological classification of the palate velum determined that 52% of the vela were classified as concave; the flat and convex vela both had a 24% share each. According to the evaluation of the pharyngeal velum, 12% were shown to be insufficient, 52% as borderline insufficient, 24% as borderline sufficient, and only 8% proved to be sufficient. When relating the palate velum morphology with pharyngeal velum evaluation a p = 0.3 was obtained. There is a variability in both the palate velum morphology and in the evaluation of the pharyngeal velum insufficiency on operated cleft palate patients, with the latter shown as being unfavorable. No statistical relation was established between palate velum morphology and pharyngeal velum evaluation.