A COMPARISON OF 3 METHODS USED FOR TREATMENT OF RANULA

Purpose: This report compares the treatment results for oral and plung ing ranulas. Patients and Methods: Twenty-seven patients were retrospe ctively examined concerning treatment methods and recurrence on the ba sis of their medical records. The surgical specimens were also examine d microscopically. Results: Four patients had excision of the ranula o nly, 22 had marsupialization, and nine had removal of the sublingual g land combined with the excision of the ranula. These treatments showed a 25.0%, 36.4% and 0% recurrence rate, respectively. Histological obs ervation revealed no epithelial lining in any of the examined specimen s. Conclusions: Removal of the sublingual gland combined with the ranu la was the most reliable method among the above three used.