Closure of palatal fistula with local double-breasted mucoperiosteal flaps

Introduction and objectives: Despite improvement to surgical techniques of cleft-palate surgery, palatal fistulas remain a challenge. Many surgical procedures have been described for repair of these fistulas either by using the local tissue or by importing a new tissue from adjacent areas. In this report, we describe our technique for closure of palatal fistula using double-breasted mucoperiosteal flaps based on the greater palatine artery. Patients and methods: Eight patients with oronasal fistulas located in the posterior two-thirds of the hard palate following cleft-palate repair were treated by double-breasted mucoperiosteal flaps with an overlapping zone of 1-2 cm. Results: All fistulas successively healed, none of our patients developed any significant postoperative bleeding, infection or fistula recurrence. Conclusions: Double breasated mucoperiostial flap is a simple successful option for correction of oronasal fistula. (C) 2012 British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.