Earlier Infant Cleft Palate Repairs Pay Off

The percentage of children born with gaps in their palates who had close to normal speech in kindergarten was about 40% higher when their palates were repaired at 6 months of age rather than waiting until their first birthdays. From European pediatric reconstructive surgeons comes another ground-breaking study just published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

A total of 558 infants at 23 centers in Europe and South America participated. Half were randomly assigned to have their palatal repairs at 6 months and the remainder had them at one year of age. Speech analysis for both groups was completed at 5 years of age. Significant air escape during speaking, so called velopharyngeal insufficiency, occurred in 8.9% of the 6 month repair group compared with 15% of the 12 month repair group. The infants who underwent earlier repair were also 20% more likely to be babbling by a year of age.

This study argues for earlier cleft palate repairs and demonstrates that such may be accomplished safely.

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2215162
https://www.nejm.org/do/10.1056/NEJMdo007163/full/?query=surgery&cid=DM2281982_Non_Subscriber&bid=1775976595

#cleftpalate #timing #velopharyngealinsufficiency #babbling #infancy #nejm