THE CORRELATION BETWEEN TRAINING AND SKILL OF THE SURGEON AND REOPERATION RATE FOR PERSISTENT CLEFT-PALATE SPEECH

The correlation between the surgeons training and skill and the speech after primary repair was tested using the reoperation rate as a measure for success in 439 cleft palate/cleft lip and palate (CP/CLP) patients operated at the average age of 22 months by 4 specialists and 4 residents. The reoperation rate for residents was 11-60% (av. 36) and for specialists 13-31% (av. 19). The relative reoperation rates in CP/CLP mere 20/19% for specialists but 35/38% residents. In groups consisting of the four with the best (A) and the four with the worst results (B) the reoperations rate in group A was 16% for CP and 13% for CLP, but in group B 37/44%. As the residents became specialists, the degree of their improvement varied greatly. Thus both the training and skill are important for the patients speech, but they are not necessarily synonymous terms.