Complications and the Need for Long-Term Follow-Up after Secondary Speech Surgery: A National and Longitudinal Claims Analysis

Background: Although most patients attain normal speech after cleft palate repair, up to 20 percent require secondary speech surgery. Despite the frequency of these procedures, complications and rates of subsequent revisions of secondary speech surgery after all procedure types have never been reviewed using national, longitudinal data. Methods: The authors examined insurance claims from Clinformatics Data Mart between 2001 and 2017. Cases were categorized as palatal procedures (i.e., palatoplasty, revision palatoplasty, secondary lengthening, palatal island flap) or pharyngeal procedures (i.e., pharyngeal flap, dynamic sphincter pharyngoplasty) (n = 846). Continuous enrollment from 180 days before to 30 days after surgery was required. Patients were excluded if they underwent palatoplasty, or any surgery at less than 3 years of age, without a speech diagnosis. Outcomes included 30-day complications and rates of subsequent revision secondary speech surgery. Multivariable logistic regression was used to evaluate the relationship between procedure type and complications. Results: In this cohort, 52.5 percent underwent pharyngeal procedures, and 47.5 percent underwent palatal procedures. Complications occurred in 10.9 percent of patients and included respiratory complications (4.0 percent), bleeding (1.2 percent), dehiscence (3.6 percent), and critical care episodes (3.0 percent). There was no difference in complications between procedure types (OR, 0.87; 95 percent CI, 0.56 to 1.37; p = 0.56). The subsequent revision rate was 12.7 percent, but was 21.7 percent in patients with 3 years of postoperative enrollment. Conclusions: Although complication rates were comparable to those in recent literature, rates of subsequent revisions of secondary speech procedures were high in patients with longer postoperative enrollment. Thus, these patients merit prolonged follow-up, as velopharyngeal dysfunction may recur over time.