[Furlow palatoplasty--experiences with 114 consecutive cases]

After introducing the Furlow's double opposing palatoplasty [4] in our clinic in 1991 114 patients were operated on and registered prospectively. Using this procedure for closure of small clefts and/or with moderate velopharyngeal incompetence only at the beginning it became the method of choice not only for primary palatoplasty at the age of 18-24 months but also for corrective measures now. An increase of length of the soft palate of 10 +/- 3 mm at the average was gained immediately after surgery. There were no specific side effects of the method, especially no fistulas occurred. Good speech results were obtained in 61% at the age of 8 years using profound phoniatric tests. Mixed velopharyngeal closure investigated by means of nasal videoscopy was the dominating form in 55%. The results underwent a positive change comparing results in patients after longitudinal investigation at the age of 5 and 8 years bzw. They corresponded with or exceeded the results found in a control group operated on with other methods of palatoplasty at another centre.