Surgical management of intraoral ranulas in children: an analysis of 17 pediatric cases.
OBJECTIVE
The preferred treatment of pediatric intraoral ranulas remains controversial. We present our experience with ranulas at the Gyeongsang National University Hospital and review the literature.


METHODS
The study involved 17 children under 15 years of age who visited our hospital from 2001 to 2008 and were diagnosed with a ranula exceeding 2 cm in diameter. The age and gender of the patients, the surgical procedures, presurgical observation period, postsurgical follow-up period, and complications of each case were determined. The unruptured specimens were all subjected to detailed pathological analysis.


RESULTS
The patients were on average 9.3 years and there were 10 girls and 7 boys. Spontaneous resolution was not detected in any of the cases during the presurgical observation period. Indeed, in two cases, the ranula had increased in size. The ranula and sublingual gland (SG) were resected in all cases. The average operation time was 1h. Recurrence and complications were not detected in any of the cases. Pathological analyses revealed that there was no communication of the ranula with the SG in any of the cases.


CONCLUSIONS
Our experiences suggest that the presurgical observation period need not be longer than 3 months and that the resection of ranulas along with the ipsilateral SG is a safe and effective primary treatment for symptomatic pediatric intraoral ranulas that exceed 2cm in diameter.
Seo
Ji Hyun
JH
Department of Pediatrics, Institute of Health Sciences, College of Medicine, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju, South Korea.
Park
Jung Je
JJ
Kim
Ho Youp
HY
Jeon
Sea-Yuong
SY
Kim
Jin Pyeong
JP
Ahn
Seong-Ki
SK
Hur
Dong Gu
DG
Kim
Dae Woo
DW
Lee
Jong Sil
JS
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009055:Mouth / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D019647:Oral Surgical Procedures; D011900:Ranula / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D013361:Sublingual Gland / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery