Failed pharyngoplasty and subsequent management.

An investigation of 18 patients who had experienced "surgical failure' following pharyngoplasty for the correction of velopharyngeal dysfunction was undertaken in an attempt to identify the causes. These included poor case selection, poor surgical design and execution. Subsequent management of this group included three modalities of treatment; of the three, a carefully designed and executed surgical procedure produced the most satisfactory results in this particular patient cohort.