title: What is new in management of pediatric ranula?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Ranula is extravasation mucocele arising from the sublingual gland, influencing the swallowing or eating; this review focuses on the most recent literature pertaining to pediatric ranulas and aims to comprehensively describe the methods of diagnosis and management approaches.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Ranulas consist of intraoral ranula and plunging ranula, which are frequently misdiagnosed, so it is vital for the differential diagnosis of pediatric ranulas to depend on the clinical examination, imaging and fine-needle aspiration cytology. Pediatric patients should first be observed for 6 months before other treatments. OK-432 could activate inflammatory reaction to induce shrinkage of pediatric ranulas. Marsupialization, incision with drainage and ranula excision alone, are associated with a high rate of recurrence, even marsupialization with packing and modified micromarsupialization should be prudently applied for primary treatment of intraoral ranula. Laser excision is considered an alternative treatment for intraoral ranula of pediatric patients because of low recurrence rates and surgical complications. Recently, sublingual gland with or without ranula excision is a reasonable and suitable choice for radical treatment in pediatric patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The principal goal of pediatric ranula management is radical sublingual gland excision, sealing the mucus extravasates and lowest complications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery/Head and Neck Tumor Surgery, College of Stomatology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Keqian
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zhi
authors.forename: Ling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Wenhao
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ren
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002648:Child; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging; D004322:Drainage; D006801:Humans; D053685:Laser Therapy; D010844:Picibanil / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011900:Ranula / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D010844:Picibanil