Width of cleft palate and postoperative palatal fistula – do they correlate? (original) (raw)

Fistula incidence after primary repair and correlation with cleft width-to-palatum width ratio: A prospective cohort study

Annals of Medicine and Surgery, 2021

Background Cleft lip with or without cleft palate is one of the most common birth defects and is certainly the most visible. Fistula rate after primary palatoplasty was ranging between 10 and 23% and could be detected in the first three weeks after surgery. The cleft width is the frequent factor which was assumed to correspond to fistula occurrence. This study aimed to find correlation between fistula occurrence with cleft width and palatum width ratio after primary palate repair. Methods A prospective cohort study was conducted on 16 subjects, which consisted of 10 males and 6 females. We measured width of cleft palate, width of rest palate and width of palate arch on three level measurements (posterior, junction and anterior). The surgery was performed using the two-flap and three layers suturing technique. Results Sixteen patients were enrolled in this study during January and February 2008 . Ten patients were diagnosed with unilateral cleft palate while six patients had bilatera...

Prevalence, Cause, and Location of Palatal Fistula in Operated Complete Unilateral Cleft Lip and Palate: Retrospective Study

The Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Journal, 2014

Objective To evaluate the prevalence of fistulas after palate repair and analyze their location and association with possible causal factors. Design Retrospective analysis of patient records and evaluation of preoperative initial photographs. Setting Tertiary craniofacial center. Participants Five hundred eighty-nine individuals with complete unilateral cleft lip and palate that underwent palate repair at the age of 12 to 36 months by the von Langenbeck technique, in a single stage, by the plastic surgery team of the hospital, from January 2003 to July 2007. Interventions The cleft width was visually classified by a single examiner as narrow, regular, or wide. The following regions of the palate were considered for the location: anterior, medium, transition (between hard and soft palate), and soft palate. Main outcome measures Descriptive statistics and analysis of association between the occurrence of fistula and the different parameters were evaluated. Results Palatal fistulas wer...

Outcomes of Surgical Management of Palatal Fistulae in Patients With Repaired Cleft Palate

Journal of Craniofacial Surgery, 2020

Background: The palatal fistula is an important surgical challenge within the longitudinal follow-up of patients with repaired cleft palate as the success rate of palatal fistula reconstruction by adopting several surgical techniques is variable and often unsatisfactory. The purpose of this retrospective study was to report the clinical outcomes of an algorithm for the surgical management of palatal fistulae in patients with repaired cleft palate. Methods: Consecutive patients (n ¼ 101) with repaired cleft palate and palatal fistula-related symptoms who were treated according to a specific algorithm between 2009 and 2017 were included. Based on the anatomical location (Pittsburgh fistula types II-V), amount of scarring (minimal or severe scarred palate), and diameter of the fistula (5 mm or >5 mm), 1 of 3 approaches (local flaps [62.4%], buccinator myomucosal flaps [20.8%], or tongue flaps [16.8%]) was performed. For clinical outcome assessment, symptomatic and anatomical parameters (fistula-reported symptoms and residual fistula, respectively) were combined as follows: complete fistula closure with no symptoms; asymptomatic narrow fistula remained; or failure to repair the fistula (''good,'' ''fair,'' or ''poor'' outcomes, respectively). Surgical-related complication data were also collected. Results: Most patients (91.1%) presented ''good'' clinical outcomes, ranging from 86.2% to 100% (86.2%, 100%, and 100% for local flaps, buccinator flaps, and tongue flaps, respectively). All (8.9%) ''fair'' and ''poor'' outcomes were observed in fistulae reconstructed by local flaps. All ''poor'' (5%) outcomes were observed in borderline fistulae (4-5 mm). No surgical-related complications (dehiscence, infections, or necrosis) were observed, except for an episode of bleeding after the 1st stage of tongue flap-based reconstruction (1.0%). Conclusion: A high rate of fistula resolution was achieved using this algorithm for surgical management of palatal fistulae in patients with repaired cleft palate.

Frequency of Oronasal Fistulae in Complete Cleft Palate Repair

Journal of the College of Physicians and Surgeons--Pakistan: JCPSP

To determine the frequency of oro-nasal fistula in patients undergoing complete cleft palate repair by two flappalatoplasty. Case series. Department of Plastic Surgery, Services Hospital, Lahore, from January to December 2013. Patients admitted to the study place for repair of cleft palate after informed consent obtained were included. Cleft palate was repaired by two-flap palatoplasty, using Bardach technique. Patients were discharged on the second postoperative day and followed-up at third week postoperatively. During follow-up visits, fistulae formation and their sites were recorded on pre-designed proforma. Among the total 90 patients, 40 patients (44.4%) were male and 50 patients (55.6%) were female. The mean age was 6.4 ± 5.7 years ranging from 9 months to 20 years. At third week follow-up, 5 patients (5.6%) had fistulae formation. Four patients (80%) had anterior fistulae and one patient (20%) had posterior fistula. With two-flap palatoplasty Bardach procedure for repair of c...

Palatal Fistula Post-Cleft Palate Repair: A Tertiary Center Experience in Oman

Modern Plastic Surgery, 2017

One of the known complications of cleft palate surgery is development of fistula. This study highlights our experience with cleft palate surgery in relation to fistula occurrence at our center. This is one of the first studies of this kind in Oman. We retrospectively reviewed 362 records of cleft palate patients. The most common technique used for cleft palate repair at our center was Veau-Wardill-Kilner technique. In our series we have noticed palatal fistulae in 32% of cases. This high rate is partially due to inclusion of very anterior fistulas in patients with complete cleft lips and palates, which actually represent part of the alveolar cleft rather than breakdown of the palatal repair. This will be closed during time of alveolar bone grafting at a later stage. We recommend a future prospective controlled study to study the factors that lower the incidence of fistula in our population.

Fistula incidence after primary cleft palate repair: a systematic review of the literature

Plastic and reconstructive surgery, 2014

The development of an oronasal fistula after primary cleft palate repair has a wide variation reported in the literature. The aim of this review is to identify the reported oronasal fistula incidence to provide a benchmark for surgical practice. A systematic review was undertaken to investigate the incidence of fistula. Multiple meta-analyses were performed to pool proportions of reported fistulae, in each data set corresponding to the continent of origin of the study, type of cleft, and techniques of cleft palate repair used. A total of 9294 patients were included from 44 studies. The overall incidence of reported fistula was 8.6 percent (95 percent CI, 6.4 to 11.1 percent). There was no significant difference in the fistula incidence corresponding to the continent of origin of each study or the repair technique used. The incidence of fistula in cleft lip-cleft palate was 17.9 percent, which was significantly higher (p = 0.03) than in cases of cleft palate alone (5.4 percent). Pala...

Closer to the Truth on National Fistula Prevalence After Unilateral Complete Cleft Lip and Palate Repair? The Cleft Care UK Study

The Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Journal, 2019

Objectives: To (1) determine the prevalence of nonperialveolar palatal fistula up to age 5 following repair of unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP) in the United Kingdom, (2) examine the association of palatoplasty techniques with fistula occurrence, and (3) describe the frequency of fistula repairs and their success. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: All 11 centralized regional cleft centers in the United Kingdom. Participants: Two hundred sixty-eight children born between 2005 and 2007 recruited by Cleft Care UK, a nationwide cross-sectional study of all 5-year-old children born with nonsyndromic UCLP. Main Outcome Measure: Nonperialveolar palatal fistula prevalence up to age 5. Results: Fistulas were found in 72 children (31.3%, 95% confidence interval: 25.4%-37.7%) and had no significant association with palate repair sequences. Twenty-four fistulas were repaired by age 5, 12 of which had data showing 10 (83.3%) successful repairs. Conclusion: The prevalence of nonperial...

Management of palatal fistulas and a simple surgical algorithm proposal

Marmara Medical Journal

Objectives: Despite improved techniques in repair of cleft palate, failure of healing of palatal structures resulting in a palatal fistula is one of the major challenges in the practice of reconstructive surgery. The aim of this study is to evaluate treatment success and failure in patients with palatal fistulas following cleft palate repair. Patients and Methods: Totally 44 patients with a history of cleft palate who underwent surgery for palatal fistula were included in this study undertaken between January 1999 and August 2014. Fistulas were classified as anterior and posterior according to the repair technique and were repaired using one of the following techniques: buccal mucosal flap, tongue flap or mucoperiosteal flap. Results: Success rate for anterior fistulas was 71.42% with tongue flap and 76.92% with mucoperiosteal flap. Success rate for posterior fistulas was 84.62% with mucoperiosteal flap and 75% with buccal mucosal flap. Difference in success rates between the anterior and posterior fistulas was not statistically significant. Conclusion: Our study results suggest the use of mucoperiosteal flaps for both anterior and posterior fistulas smaller than 5mm as the first choice, guided by the principle of replacing absent tissue with similar tissue.