Abstract
Guidelines for repairing cleft palates in the older age group are controversial. As the patient ages, the palate repair become more difficult, and the ability to improve speech lessens. Age recommendations are variable and difficult to evaluate scientifically. The palate repair, regardless of age, is a technically difficult operation, with complications possibly rendering the patient in a worse off state if poorly executed. This risk may increase as the patient ages. This is also compounded by the fact that most surgeons trained in high-income countries have little experience with surgery for older patients.
Despite this, we recommend that older patients should have their repair done if the surgical, anesthetic, and nursing skills are available. We suggest that longer-term follow-up is mandatory and requires the older patient to be done in main cleft center settings rather than short-term missions due to the increased rate of surgical complications and airway management issues. We recommend three surgical approaches based on our collective experience.
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Parker, G.R., Chong, D.K., Naidu, P. (2022). Cleft Palate Repair in Adult Patients. In: Fayyaz, G.Q. (eds) Surgical Atlas of Cleft Palate and Palatal Fistulae. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3889-6_92-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3889-6_92-1
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