Cleft palate repair: velopharyngeal closure before and during the basal tone

SummaryPatients with palatine fissure have inadequate velopharyngeal closure (VPC), with consequent vocal hypernasality which can be reduced by a basal tone.Aimto compare VPC during a basal tone with the emission of a modal recording, in patients with repaired post-foramen palatine fissure.Materials and methodscase study with four adult men, all with repaired post-foramen palatine fissure. VPC images through nasal-pharyngoscopy during the emission o f the [a] vowel in a modal and basal recording. The images were studied by four ENTs.Resultsin three subjects there was no change in the type of VPC considering the recordings analyzed; the changes which happened to most of the subjects are associated only to the degree of movement of the structures involved, since in the basal recording the movement of the laryngeal lateral walls was kept, the movement of the posterior pharyngeal wall stabilized, the movement of the palatine veil was mildly reduced, and the Passavant fold was evident.ConclusionsThe type of VPC was kept in the four subjects analyzed, when we compared the modal and basal recordings, there was a modification in the degree of movements in the structures involved, making it clear the Passavant Fold.