Surgical Approach to Hemipalatal Discrepancy in Tessier 7 Reconstruction: Review of Literature and Case Series

Objective: The authors present findings and techniques to address hemipalatal discrepancy in patients with Tessier 7 cleft and associated cleft palate during cleft palatoplasty. Design: The authors report 2 cases of pediatric patients with Tessier 7 facial clefts and associated cleft palate. One patient presents on the broader oculo-auriculo-vertebral spectrum and the other is has isolated Tessier cleft 7. Additionally, a PubMed search was performed using the MeSH terms "tessier 7," "cleft palate", "macrostomia," "tessier 7 AND cleft palate," "macrostomia AND cleft palate," AND "hemipalatal discrepancy." All relevant literature was identified and underwent full review for qualitative analysis. Results: Two patients met criteria for inclusion in this article. The surgical techniques utilized to mitigate the hemipalatal length discrepancy are detailed, and intraoperative photographs are provided. The results of the literature review are also presented. Tessier 7 craniofacial cleft and palatal clefts, when occurring in combination, is noted to result in discrepant hemipalatal length with short maxillary palate length on the affected side as well hypoplasia of the associated speech musculature. The postoperative palatal length after palatoplasty in both patients was longer than the preoperative hypoplastic palatal length. Conclusions: When occurring in combination, Tessier 7 craniofacial cleft and concomitant palatal cleft results in discrepant hemipalatal length, and deficiency of the bony maxillary palatal shelves, and associated speech musculature and soft tissues. The techniques described in this article may assist in maximizing postoperative palatal length.