INFLUENCE OF UTILITY OF FASCIA LATA HOMOGRAFT ON THE PALATAL FISTULA IN CLEFT-PALATE REPAIR

After palatoplasty operations, we are faced with a palatal fistula rat e of 30% repair which is one of the most difficult tasks in Plastic Su rgery. Placement of a biological material between the two anatomic lay ers of the palate was performed to reduce the rate of fistula formatio n. Commercially available ''fascia lata'' homograft was used in order to decrease the time of operation and avoid donor site morbidity. This method has reduced the rate of palatal fistulae to 8.3%.