View clinical trials related to Cleft Palate.
Filter by:Elevation of the soft palate (the soft part of the roof of the mouth) during swallowing helps the Eustachian tube to open and keep the ear healthy. (The Eustachian tube is the normal tube running from the middle ear to the back of the nose and throat). When the soft palate does not move enough (due to a history of cleft palate or for unknown reasons), this can lead to speech problems. Also, because the Eustachian tube is not opening enough, fluid can accumulate in the middle ear, which requires treatment with ear tubes. The goal of this research study is to determine if soft palate exercises will help improve the ability of the soft palate to close the area between the throat and nose, like it is supposed to during speech and swallowing, and if this improves Eustachian tube opening.
The purpose of this study is to learn about Smith-Lemli-Opitz Syndrome (SLOS). SLOS is an inherited condition that is caused by the body not making an enzyme as it should. The body needs the enzyme to help make cholesterol. SLOS can cause many health problems including slow growth and development, eating disorders, sleep disorders, behavior disorders, and eye diseases. Severe SLOS leads to birth defects and mental retardation and in many cases early death. The investigators plan to measure cholesterol and other sterol levels, perform clinical observations, whole body testing and imaging (brain MRIs), to learn more about the disease and its progression, differences in the clinical features among individuals with SLOS, and look at the effect of cholesterol supplementation in this condition. The study is an interventional study to characterize disease progression and correlations between clinical, biochemical and physiological features of the disease. The main hypothesis is that dietary cholesterol supplementation does not improve features of SLOS related to the brain (e.g. IQ, behavior).