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Journal of the Korean Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons 2009;36(3):294-298.
Published online May 1, 2009.
The Relationship between Age and Speech Improvement in the Patients Performed Pharyngeal Flap for Correction of Velopharyngeal Dysfunction.
Kyoung Hoon Kim, Yong Chan Bae, Su Bong Nam, Soo Jong Choi, Cheol Uk Kang
Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, School of Medicine, Pusan National University, Busna, Korea. baeyc2@hanmail.net
Abstract
PURPOSE
The pharyngeal flap is one of the popular surgical methods to treat the problem of velopharyngeal dysfunction. This study evaluated speech outcome of patients who underwent superiorly based pharyngeal flap surgery based on timing of surgery. METHODS: A restrospective review of 50 patients who underwent pharyngeal flap surgery for velopharyngeal insufficiency from September 1996 to January 2008 was undertaken. Thirty patients with an available preoprative and postoperative speech assessments with at least 6 months of follow-up were included in this study. We checked out the significance of speech improvement after surgery analysing preoperative and postoperative scoring of speech assessment. We also investigated the direct relationship between the age at surgery and the degree of speech improvement, and the improvement score in different age groups.
RESULTS
The mean score of preoperative speech was 52.6 +/- 7.4 points and postoperative speech was 58.6 +/- 6.5 points, which presented significant postoperative speech improvement with an average of 5.9 points (p<0.01). There was a significant inverse relationship between the age at operation and speech improvement degree (p<0.01, r=-0.54). Comparing the age groups, the age group of 4 to 5 years presented statistically significant speech improvement (p<0.01).
CONCLUSION
we propose that all patients indicated should take pharyngeal flap irrespective of age. In this study, the younger the age at surgery, the higher degree of speech improvement, for which we suggest that surgical approach should be undertaken as early as possible, especially younger than 5 years of age.
Keywords: Velopharyngeal dysfunction; Pharyngeal flap; Speech improvement
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