Orofacial Manifestations of Stickler Syndrome: An Analysis of Speech Outcome and Facial Growth After Cleft Palate Repair

Purpose The purpose of this study was to characterize airway problems, speech outcomes, and facial growth in patients with Stickler syndrome undergoing cleft palate repair. Methods A retrospective, longitudinal study was performed at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia on 25 patients with Stickler syndrome and 53 nonsyndromic patients with clefts of the secondary palate repaired between 1977 and 2000. Airway problems were characterized by the incidence of Pierre Robin Sequence (PRS) and the necessity for surgical airway management. Speech was analyzed using the Pittsburgh weighted values for speech symptoms associated with velopharyngeal incompetence (VPI). Longitudinal anthropometric measurements represented up to 12 years of longitudinal cephalofacial growth. Results Seventy-two percent of patients with Stickler syndrome were diagnosed with PRS, 55.6% of whom required surgical airway management. Conversely, 20.8% of nonsyndromic patients were diagnosed with PRS (P
Source: Annals of Plastic Surgery - Category: Cosmetic Surgery Tags: Head and Neck Surgery Source Type: research