Velopharyngeal Closure In Patients with Facial Paralysis: The Fiberscopic Examination of The Velopharyngeal Movements

Abstract

The present study was intended to clarify the role of the facial nerve in velopharyngeal movement and to determine the pathway of the facial nerve innervating the muscles related to velopharyngeal closure in man. Velopharyngeal function in 100 patients with idiopathic peripheral facial paralysis was analyzed using the nasopharyngeal fiberscope (NPF) and neuro-otological examinations. Lack of velopharyngeal closure was observed during Japanese isolated vowels and vowels in consonant-vowel (CV) syllables in patients with facial paralysis. Velopharyngeal opening was found in 85.7% of the subjects with suprastapedial paralysis and in 22.2% of those with infrastapedial paralysis. The facial nerve seemed to affect velopharyngeal movement, at least during vowel productions, through the greater petrosal nerve. Velopharyngeal closure in swallowing and blowing was always demonstrated. Hyperna-sality during connected speech was not heard in these patients.