Babies born with wide cleft palates present a challenge to achieve the most favourable functional outcomes. There is a sparsity of evidence to support the optimal surgical management of babies with this cleft phenotype.
Prashan Kangesu (Specialist Registrar in Plastic Surgery, Oxford Deanery) and Marc Swan of the Spires Cleft Service are collaborating with Amy Davies and Nitisha Narayan from the Bristol Cleft Collective team to undertake research into the management of wide cleft palates. They are extremely grateful to the charity Craniofacial Australia, which is based in Adelaide, for funding the first year of this study.
The aim of the first year of the project is to produce a Cochrane systematic review of wide palate management and to develop a definitive consensus on what constitutes a ‘wide’ cleft palate and how surgeons can measure palatal width most accurately. The intention in the second year is to perform a retrospective analysis of UK cleft palate patients, based on the Cleft Collective dataset, to determine which surgical pathway provides optimal speech outcomes, has the least prevalence of fistula, and minimises the burden of care for patients and their families.
Please watch this space for news on our progress in the months ahead!