Influência do retalho faríngeo sobre a nasalidade e a nasalância na produção de sons nasais em indivíduos com fissura labiopalatina

Influência do retalho faríngeo sobre a nasalidade e a nasalância na produção de sons nasais em indivíduos com fissura labiopalatina

CoDAS, January 2015

26691623

Ana Paula Fukushiro, Flávia Ferlin, Renata Paciello Yamashita, Inge Elly Kiemle Trindade

Objective To verify the influence of pharyngeal flap surgery on the management of velopharyngeal insufficiency on nasality and speech nasalance on nasal sound production in individuals with cleft lip and palate. Methods Prospective study in 159 individuals with repaired cleft palate±lip, of both genders, aged 6 to 57 years old. All the participants presented residual velopharyngeal insufficiency and were submitted to pharyngeal flap surgery. Perceptual speech evaluation and nasometric assessment were performed before and after (14 months on average) the pharyngeal flap surgery. Hyponasality was rated as absent or present, and nasalance scores were determined by means of nasometer using nasal stimuli, with a cutoff score of 43% used as the lowest limit of normality. Nasality and nasalance were compared before and after surgery (p<0.05). Results On the basis of correlation between both the methods used, perceptual hyponasality was observed in 14% of the individuals, whereas nasalance scores indicating hyponasality (<43%) were obtained in 25% of the patients after surgery. Conclusion Pharyngeal flap surgery influenced the production of nasal sounds, causing hyponasality in a significant proportion of individuals. The presence of this speech symptom can also be an indicator of upper airway obstruction caused by pharyngeal flap, which should be investigated objectively and prudently postoperatively.