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Interdisciplinary teamwork is essential for the rehabilitation of patients with cleft lip and palate, and therefore, the application of treatment techniques for velopharyngeal insufficiency, both surgical and prosthetic, depends on the experience of each rehabilitation team. For this reason, the following study consisting of the cooperation between interdisciplinary cleft lip and palate teams from Chile and Argentina, which succeeded in correcting velopharyngeal insufficiency in an adolescent, initially using a pharyngeal bulb prosthesis and speech therapy, and finally through pharyngeal flap surgery, is presented. This shows that international cooperation is a valuable tool for training, implementation, and follow-up of different treatment techniques for teams in formation., Competing Interests: The authors report no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2023 by Mutaz B. Habal, MD.)

Interdisciplinary evaluation is essential to diagnose and define clinical conduct for children and adults presenting with an altered lingual frenulum; however, there are few reports on the subject in the literature. In this context, the following study exemplifies a proposed protocol for the surgical and SLT treatment of a lingual frenulum based on a review of the literature and the experience of speech and language therapists and maxillofacial surgeons from hospitals in Santiago de Chile. After its application, a history of breastfeeding with difficulties and a maintained preference for soft foods was reported. Upon anatomic examination, the lingual apex was heart-shaped, and the lingual frenulum was fixed in the upper third of the ventral side of the tongue, with a pointed shape, submerged up to the apex, and of adequate thickness. Meanwhile, upon functional examination, the tongue was descended at rest, performed tongue protrusion with restrictions (raising and clicking), did not achieve attachment or vibration, and presented distortion of the sounds / r/ and /rr/. With this information, an altered lingual frenulum was diagnosed, with the indication for surgery and postoperative speech and language therapy. The constructed instrument allowed for the standardization of the evaluation in different teams but should be validated in future research., Competing Interests: The authors report no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2023 by Mutaz B. Habal, MD.)

Objective: Describe and compare the results of speech and velopharyngeal function in children with classic and occult submucous cleft palate undergoing interdisciplinary treatment at the Gantz Foundation., Methods: The clinical history of all patients born between 2012 and 2017 with a diagnosis of classic or occult submucous cleft palate was retrospectively reviewed. Preoperative and postoperative medical, surgical, and speech and language history were collected., Results: Twenty-eight cases diagnosed at the age of 44.8±23.9 months were included. Of these, 71.4% presented classic submucous cleft, and 28.6% occult. Before primary surgery, 7.1% had a diagnosis of the syndrome, and 21.4% were under study. A total of 39.3% had hearing difficulties and 21.4% used tympanic ventilation tubes. A total of 60.7% had language problems, 39.3% had compensatory articulation, 17.9% had absent hypernasality, and 21.4% had absent nasal emission. The team indicated primary palate surgery in 71.4%, of which 85% performed the surgery at the mean age of 61.7±24.7 months. The surgical technique was Furlow in 88.2% of the cases and intravelar veloplasty in the remaining 11.8%. Then, 3 cases underwent velopharyngeal insufficiency surgery; 2 of them eliminated hypernasality and reduced nasal emission. The age of diagnosis ( P =0.021) and the performance of velopharyngeal insufficiency surgery ( P =0029) of the occult submucous cleft palate group was significatively later than the classic cleft palate group., Conclusions: Language, hearing, compensatory articulation, hypernasality, and nasal emission problems were recorded. A high percentage required primary surgery. Of these, a low proportion also required a velopharyngeal insufficiency surgery, which improved the velopharyngeal function of the children but did not completely adapt it. In this regard, early diagnosis is essential, as well as an analysis of each center primary closure protocol., (Copyright © 2023 by Mutaz B. Habal, MD.)

Purpose: Factors that contribute to the development of juvenile osteochondritis dissecans (JOCD) of the talus are poorly understood. Some authors suggest that a higher loading of the affected zone may be a cofactor in osteochondral lesions. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to evaluate any association between ankle morphology and talus JOCD using morphologic parameters from magnetic resonance images. Our hypothesis is that ankles with JOCD lesions would have differences in the anatomy compared with age and sex-matched unaffected ankles., Methods: We evaluated a total of 75 extremities. There were 22 patients (25 ankles) with talus JOCD lesions, and 50 patients (50 ankles) sex and age-matched individuals with healthy ankles served as controls. Two examiners conducted independent measurements of 8 magnetic resonance images parameters: tibial anterior surface angle, tibial shaft both malleoli angle (TBM), tibial axis-medial malleolus angle, anterior opening angle of the talus, malleolar width, tibial lateral surface angle, Maximal tibial thickness, length of trochlea tali arc, and height of trochlea tali arc. Measurement reliability was assessed using intraclass correlation coefficients. Differences in parameters between JOCD patients and controls were evaluated using independent t test. The level of significance was taken to be P<0.05., Results: Intraclass correlation coefficients demonstrated good to excellent consistency for all measurements. Sagittal parameters demonstrated a significant length of trochlea tali arc increase in ankles with JOCD lesions compared with normal ankles (P=0.015). There was no statistical difference in any of the axial or coronal parameters., Conclusions: Ankle morphology may have a relationship with JOCD lesions. Future larger studies will be useful for further clarifying our findings, and detecting other potential predisposing factors with clinical relevance and how they can be modified., Study Design: Cross-sectional study (Level of evidence III)., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2020 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)