Palatal Fistula Post-Cleft Palate Repair: A Tertiary Center Experience in Oman

One of the known complications of cleft palate surgery is development of fistula. This study highlights our experience with cleft palate surgery in relation to fistula occurrence at our center. This is one of the first studies of this kind in Oman. We retrospectively reviewed 362 records of cleft palate patients. The most common technique used for cleft palate repair at our center was Veau-Wardill-Kilner technique. In our series we have noticed palatal fistulae in 32% of cases. This high rate is partially due to inclusion of very anterior fistulas in patients with complete cleft lips and palates, which actually represent part of the alveolar cleft rather than breakdown of the palatal repair. This will be closed during time of alveolar bone grafting at a later stage. We recommend a future prospective controlled study to study the factors that lower the incidence of fistula in our population.