Speech improvement in a child with submucous cleft palate surgery: A case report

Abstract

This article reports a case from Indonesia with velopharyngeal insufficiency caused by submucous cleft palate. This 4-year-old girl, with the chief complaint of nasal sound and congenital palate defect, underwent V-Y Pushback combined with Furlow Double-Opposing Z-Plasty technique surgery. A single operation, by combining these techniques, was performed to line up the hard and soft palate of uvula. Two weeks after surgery, there was instant phonation improvement, which was evaluated by Uji Gajah (Elephant test) used in Bahasa, Indonesia. We conclude that combined palatoplasty and veloplasty surgical techniques may provide good velopharyngeal function results.

Keywords

• Speech improvement
• Uji gajah
• Submucous cleft palate
• V-Y Pushback
• Furlow double-opposing Z-plasty technique