Palate velum morphology on operated cleft palate patients and its relation with the degree of pharyngeal velum insufficiency Morfología del velo palatino en individuos fisurados operados, y su relación con el grado de insuficiencia velo faríngea

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