Preoperative pharyngeal depth is associated with postoperative velopharyngeal function following primary cleft palate repair at the age of five and above

To determine prognostic factors for postoperative velopharyngeal function following the primary cleft palate repair at the age of five and above.This study reviewed patients with cleft palate who had undergone Furlow palatoplasty at age 5 or older from 2009 to 2014. We obtained intraoperative measurements, including velar length, pharyngeal depth, cleft width, maxillary width, cleft palate index (cleft width/maxillary width) and palatopharyngeal ratio (velar length/pharyngeal depth), as well as speech evaluation results at least 1 year after surgery. Logistic regression and retrospective analyses were performed to determine factors associated with speech performance after the primary cleft palate repair.Among the six intraoperative measurements of velopharyngeal morphology, only pharyngeal depth was incorporated into the regression model, and was found to have an inverse association with postoperative velopharyngeal function, Exp (B) 0.883 (95% CI 0.798-0.976). Moreover, a pharyngeal depth greater than 16 mm was significantly associated with a higher risk of postoperative velopharyngeal insufficiency (P < 0.01).Pharyngeal depth is potentially a prognostic indicator for the primary management of cleft palate in older patients. Pharyngoplasty may need to be considered when the pharyngeal depth is large and the patient’s access to surgery is limited.