Significance of Sublingual Gland Excision in Surgical Treatment of Ranula

Background and ObjectivesZZRanulas, pseudo cysts found on the floor of mouth, develop from the retention or extravasation of saliva from the sublingual gland.The main treatment of ranula is surgical excision but the extent of surgery is controversial.The aim of this study was to evaluate the significance of sublingual gland excision in the surgical treatment of ranula.Subjects and MethodZZWe retrospectively reviewed 112 patients with ranula who had undergone surgical excision from January 2004 to April 2016.Those who underwent any previous treatment such as sclerotherapy, marsupialization, or excision of cyst were excluded in the study.Surgical outcomes including complications and recurrence were compared between the group that went through simple cyst excision and the group that went through cyst and sublingual gland excision.ResultsZZOf 112 patients, 94 were simple ranula and 18 were plunging ranula.Thirty-seven (33%) were male and 75 (67%) were female.Of the 94 simple ranula patients, 23 underwent excision of cyst only; the remaining 71 patients and all other patients with plunging ranula underwent excision of cyst and sublingual gland together.The recurrence rate was significantly lower for the cyst and sublingual gland excision group than for the simple cyst excision group (2.2% vs. 17.4%, p=0.004).The complication rate did not differ between the two groups (4.3% vs. 1.1%, p=0.298).ConclusionZZThe excision of sublingual glands as well as cysts is an important option to reduce recurrence in the surgical treatment of ranula.