The inferiorly based pharyngoplasty: effects on chronic otitis media with effusion.

Conflicting reports in the literature on the relationship between the inferiorly based pharyngeal flap and otitis media with effusion (OME) motivated a prospective study on 51 children between 3 and 12 years of age suffering from velopharyngeal incompetence. The patient group consisted of 34 children with cleft palate and 17 children with congenitally short palate. The male-female ratio was 37 to 14, showing no differences regarding physical disability.