Intravelar veloplasty in submucous cleft palate without lateral relaxing incision or nasal mucosal incision

Surgical treatment is recommended for patients with symptomatic submucous cleft palate once velopharyngeal insufficiency has been proven. This study describes the procedure and clinical outcomes of minimally invasive intravelar veloplasty. From August 2013 to March 2017, seven patients (median age, 36 months; range, 16–60 months, 5 females and 2 males) with submucous cleft palate underwent intravelar veloplasty. Neither a nasal mucosal incision nor a lateral relaxing incision was applied. Follow-up was performed at least twice: once at three weeks postoperatively and again between two and three years postoperatively (average, 31 months; range, 26–35 months). Speech was assessed by speech-language pathologists when the patients were at least 3 years old. There were no cases of oronasal fistula or noticeable disturbance of facial development. All seven patients showed no or mild hypernasality and air emission and competent or at least borderline competent velopharyngeal function. Intravelar veloplasty could serve as another option for managing submucous cleft palate with velopharyngeal insufficiency, resulting in satisfactory improvement in velopharyngeal function. Because neither a lateral nor a nasal incision was used, the burden of facial growth and risk of oronasal fistula can be minimized.