PURPOSE: To evaluate the effect of intravelar veloplasty on velopharyngeal closure of patients with repaired cleft palate and velopharyngeal insufficiency (VPI), using the pressure-flow technique. METHODS: Forty-seven individuals of both genders, with ages between six and 48 years, with repaired cleft palate±lip and residual VPI, submitted to intravelar veloplasty. The pressure-flow technique was used to measure the velopharyngeal orifice area during the production of the phoneme /p/ in the word "rampa", before and, in average, 12 months after surgery. Velopharyngeal closure was classified as adequate (0 to 0.049 cm²), borderline (0.050 to 0.199 cm²) or inadequate (>0.200 cm²). RESULTS: After surgery, there was considerable improvement in the velopharyngeal closure degree in 66% of the cases. From the patients analyzed, 47% presented adequate closure, 23%, borderline closure and 30% remained with inadequate closure. CONCLUSION: These results showed that intravelar veloplasty led to improvement in velopharyngeal closure in most of the patients studied, consequently decreasing the speech symptoms of VPI.
Cleft palate; Velopharyngeal insufficiency; Rhinomanometry; Speech; Palate, soft
