Speech Therapy Only Versus Speech Therapy Combined With Furlow Palatoplasty for the Treatment of Velopharyngeal Insufficiency in Submucous Cleft Palate: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Journal of Plastic, Reconstructive & Aesthetic Surgery
Ritzen, T. F. P., Wijnants, N., et al. (2025).
Journal of Plastic, Reconstructive & Aesthetic Surgery, 108, 93-107.
<div>This systematic review with meta-analysis compares the effects of speech therapy only to speech therapy combined with the Furlow palatoplasty surgical technique on velopharyngeal insufficiency (VPI)-associated speech problems in individuals with submucous cleft palate.</div>
No funding received
From database inception to September 25, 2024
<div>Studies reporting effects. Excludes systematic reviews and articles comparing surgical techniques (not further specified).</div>
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<div>Both speech therapy only and speech therapy plus Furlow palatoplasty surgical repair resulted in a decrease in VPI speech difficulties in individuals with submucous cleft palate. Meta-analysis found the following:</div>
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<li>Speech therapy alone demonstrated small effect sizes and lacked statistical significance; however, the authors note the limited sample sizes and conclude that more research is needed to investigate speech therapy as a standalone treatment.</li>
<li>Speech therapy in combination with Furlow palatoplasty showed clinically significant improvements in hypernasality (Risk Difference [RD] = 0.46), clinically relevant hypernasality (RD = 0.29), and nasal emission (RD = 0.37).</li>
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<div>Limitations of this review include small sample sizes, lack of confounder controls, inability to conduct subgroup analysis, inconsistently reported speech characteristics and outcomes, and the potential exclusion of articles not written in Dutch or English. Additional studies with larger sample sizes are needed to investigate the role of speech therapy in individuals with submucous cleft palate.</div>
