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Study links risk of postoperative palatal fistulas to preoperative Veau class

Recently published study findings indicated surgeons may be able to reasonably understand a child’s postoperative risk for palatal fistula based on his or her preoperative cleft palate assessment.

The case-control study included 130 patients with cleft palate repairs who underwent primary surgery before the age of 3 and received cleft-related treatment at the same hospital center. Researchers defined palatal fistula as a breakdown of the primary surgical repair of the palate that resulted in persistent patency between the patient’s oral and nasal cavities. The researchers used the hospital’s electronic medical records and patient-tracking systems to collect all patient data.

Among the 130 patients studied, 23 had palatal fistula and 107 were controls. Patients’ mean age at the time of surgery was 12.6 months in the palatal fistula group and 14.5 months in the control group.

The researchers found a statistically significant association between the outcome of fistula and the severity of the cleft, using the Veau classification system. Specifically, with each Veau classification increase, the odds of palatal fistula increased by 2.64, according to the researchers.

Fistula outcome was found to have no statistically significant association with patient sex, patient age at palatoplasty, orthodontic treatment, ear infections, surgeon or clefts associated with syndromes. – by Abigail Sutton

Disclosure: The authors have no relevant financial disclosures.