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An Innovative Palatoplasty for Primary Cleft Palate Repair

Summary: Many surgical techniques have been developed to restore function in patients with cleft palate. Despite the development of many surgical techniques for primary cleft palate repair there is no standard procedure that ensures palatal function as that in normal children. Furlow’s and intravelar veloplasty are the most common methods for velar repair in patients with cleft palate; however, some limitations have been described by different authors. The objective of this study was to present an innovative method for primary cleft palate repair that addresses the shortcomings of conventional methods. Since 2017, 88 consecutive patients with nonsyndromic unilateral cleft palate have undergone primary anatomical repair of palatal deformity using this technique. This method combines nasal mucosa Z plasty and muscular overlapping with the use of one hemiuvula for uvular repair (unilateral uvuloplasty). The nasal mucosa Z plasty produces velar lengthening by transposition of nasal mucosa and myomucosal flaps. The unilateral uvuloplasty reduces anatomically the velopharyngeal gap and increases the velar length, thus reducing velopharyngeal distance. This innovative palatoplasty, achieves proper anatomical and functional reconstruction of the repaired palate. Only four patients (4.54%) developed mild or severe hypernasality and one patient (1.13%) had postoperative palatal fistula in this group of patients. This innovative technique results in low rates of nondesirable outcomes, improving limitations of conventional methods. Reduced oral mucosa incisions, limited velar muscle dissection, and preservation of the tensor veli palatini anatomy are some of the benefits of this technique.