Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 5: Doctors at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Narayana Superspeciality Hospital diagnosed a sub-mucous cleft palate that wasn’t visible from outside in a 12 year old girl from Baramulla in Kashmir. A dysfunctional muscle causing a nasal twang in her speech was successfully operated upon to correct the cleft that helped her to swallow and speak with ease.
This was done free of cost as part of the project supported by Deutsche Cleft Kinderhilfe e.V – a German based NGO in association with Narayana Health.
Whenever we speak, there is a muscle between the nose and the mouth that gets activated. The passage to the nose gets closed such that the sound comes from the mouth (through our voice box). When we drink something, this muscle blocks the passage to the nose so that what we consume goes through the throat to our stomach. Similarly, when we breathe the muscle closes the passage to the mouth enabling us to breathe through the nose.
The condition of this girl was such that the cleft could not be seen from outside, and was in the interior affecting the function of this muscle. The ability to temporarily close the communication between the nasal cavity and the mouth was ineffective due to an anatomical dysfunction of the soft palate. Doctors at SMVD Narayana Superspeciality Hospital used a technology called Videofluoroscopy to ascertain how this defect can be corrected through surgery enabling the patient to swallow and talk with ease.
Cleft is a very rare problem being observed in 1 among 400 babies in J&K region according to studies by SKIMS, Srinagar. While several clefts such as lip cleft and nose cleft are visible, sub-mucous cleft palate is difficult to detect until the child starts speaking. “In such cases, the disability doesn’t come to light till the child is old enough to speak and that’s when we realize that the child has difficulty in speaking since this defect cannot be noticed from outside”, explained Dr Arjun Malhotra, Consultant Cranio-maxillofacial Surgeon at SMVDNSH. “Therefore, it is advised that if the child tends to speak with a nasal voice it is better to consult a pediatrician and get the baby examined by an expert”, he said.
“Now under this program in association with the German NGO, we are doing free cleft lip and cleft palate surgeries at our hospital in Kakryal. Till recently such cases were being sent to Chandigarh or Delhi for diagnosis and treatment, but now the diagnosis and treatment for such cases can be done closer home”, said Sunil Kumar, Sr. Vice President & Zonal Director – Narayana Health. The hospital conducts regular camps at various places to create awareness and identify such children who need corrective surgery of the cleft lip and cleft palate, which is done free of cost at SMVD Narayana Superspeciality Hospital.
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