The surgical goal of palatal repair in cleft patients is the separation of oral and nasal cavity and foremost the muscular reconstruction of the velopharyngeal sphincter. For proper alignment of oral, nasal lining and the soft palate muscular system an atraumatic separation of different fl aps is mandatory. Especially for visualization of the muscle fi bres during detachment from the posterior shelf of the hard palate and suturing in the dorsocranio position an operating microscope is recommended by many practitioners.
The detachment of the mucoperiosteal and vomer fl aps is hampered by the accessibility of the nasal area. However this detachment is a crucial step in closure of wide as well as bilateral palatal clefts. For this purpose a set of pair wise slender and angulated raspatories and elevators has been designed.
The main purpose of this set is to support the detachment of nasal mucoperiost as well as the separation from the posterior shelf of the hard palate and relocation of the muscular system without any injury to the neurovascular bundle and perforation of the nasal lining.
In cooperation with Medicon a set of instruments including a new oral retractor is designed for microsurgical functional repair of cleft palates. The slender design of the instruments renders it possible to carry out such operative procedures in small infants younger than 8 months of age.
