A simple ‘ridge’ of mucosa created on the back of the pharynx of cleft patients to try and reduce nasal escape is sometimes called after a surgeon. Who was he?
A. PigottPassavant. Gustav Passavant (1813-1893) attempted to reduce nasal escape by making a ridge of mucosa from a quadrilateral flap on the back wall of the palate in 1878 but its effects were short lived. Passavant’s ridge can be a naturally occurring phenomenon due to constriction of the levator veli palatini and superior constrictors.