Am J Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg | Volume 2, Issue 7 | Case Report | Open Access

Mucocele of Submandibular Salivary Gland Mimicking Deep Plunging Ranula in Radiological Examination- A Stepwise Surgical Exploration

Produl Hazarika^1*, Elina Punnoose S¹, Rohit Singh² and Rajeev Chaturvedi³

¹Department of ENT, NMC Specialty Hospital, UAE²Department of ENT & Head & Neck Surgery, KMC, India³Department of Radiology, NMC Specialty Hospital, UAE

^*Correspondance to: Produl Hazarika 

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Abstract

We report an interesting case of a 45-years-old female patient of Philippines nationality with a left sided neck swelling for 6 months. Our clinical examination showed a swelling in the left upper lateral neck with a normal sublingual area. An ultrasound and MRI of the neck revealed a cystic mass in the left submandibular region appearing inseparable from the left submandibular gland and extending into the floor of mouth on the left side, thus, a possible radiological diagnosis of deep plunging ranula. We performed a stepwise surgical excision of the mucocele and confirmed it to be a case of submandibular gland mucocele only and not a deep plunging ranula despite having a ‘tail sign’ on MRI scan, which is pathognomonic of a ranula. The dissected specimen and histopathological examination revealed it to be a benign submandibular salivary gland cyst. In addition, preservation of the submandibular gland may be done with only the affected part being carefully dissected out to prevent recurrences.

Keywords:

Mucocele; Plunging ranula; Submandibular salivary gland

Citation:

Hazarika P, Elina Punnoose S, Singh R, Chaturvedi R. Mucocele of Submandibular Salivary Gland Mimicking Deep Plunging Ranula in Radiological Examination- A Stepwise Surgical Exploration. Am J Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2019;2(7):1060 .