Surgical repair of hard palate cleft with absorbable membrane: the new surgical technique and its clinical application.

This study evaluated a new surgical technique with absorbable membrane to repair hard palate cleft without extensive mobilisation of the mucoperiosteum. From 2001 to 2002, 32 selected patients with complete unilateral clefts underwent this surgical operation. The traditional flap surgical operation was performed at the soft palate, uvula and anterior alveolar cleft. The absorbable membrane was implanted to the hard palate cleft gap to guide the regeneration of the mucoperiosteum. The patients were followed up for 1-6 months after the operation. The speech assessment was carried out 12 months after the operation. Of 32 patients, 30 were successfully operated by this method and no obvious complications occurred. Primary healing on tissue defect of hard palate was obtained in 27 patients and secondary healing in 3 patients. Eighty percent of the 30 patients had good or excellent speech 12 months after the operation. The operation failed in 2 patients. The surgical technique with absorbable membrane to repair hard palate appears to have several valuable advantages including the decreased area of the hard palate involved and favourable outcome for speech in the majority of cases.