A preliminary study on the quantification of soft palate movement using ultrasonography.

Velopharyngeal incompetence (VPI) is a motor impairment of the soft palate that can result in functional disorders, such as stuttering. Therefore, therapeutic interventions for VPI should begin at an early stage. We examined the possibility of early detection of motor impairments of the soft palate with ultrasonographic observations. The study was conducted on five individuals without suckling disorders (two males, three females) at 6-9 postnatal weeks of age (stage 1) and 13-23 postnatal weeks of age (stage 2). The extent and speed of soft palate movement during suckling was measured with ultrasonography. The extent of movement of the soft palate was 5.67 ± 0.68 mm at stage 1 and 6.42 ± 1.55 mm at stage 2 (t = 0.929, p = 0.190). The speed of soft palate movements at stage 1 was 44.00 ± 9.93 mm/s during elevation and 27.37 ± 8.07 mm/s during depression (t = 5.182, p = 0.007), whereas that at stage 2 was 42.89 ± 14.37 mm/s during elevation and 26.43 ± 9.06 mm/s during depression (t = 3.195, p = 0.033). We observed regular soft palate elevations and depressions during suckling. There were no differences in the extent or speed of movements between stages 1 and 2. Future studies are needed to compare differences in motor impairments of the soft palate between healthy children and those suspected of having a submucous cleft palate or VPI.