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Background Ranulas are salivary pseudocysts in the floor of the mouth adjacent to damaged salivary glands. Current surgical management is drainage of the ranula with removal of the offending gland. An analogous percutaneous procedure could potentially offer similar treatment efficacy in a more minimally invasive way. Objective To evaluate the outcomes of a cohort of patients with ranulas treated with percutaneous ranula aspiration and chemical ablation of the source salivary gland to see whether this technique could be proposed as a minimally invasive treatment alternative. Materials and methods This retrospective single-center study evaluated 24 patients treated percutaneously for ranulas between January 2004 and December 2014. All patients were treated with percutaneous ranula aspiration and chemical ablation of the offending salivary gland. Treatment success and any complications were recorded. Results Complete ranula eradication was successfully accomplished in 87.5% of the patients with no complications. Conclusion Initial results suggest that our technique of percutaneous aspiration of ranulas and chemical ablation of the source salivary gland is safe and effective.

Patients with shunted hydrocephalus are exposed to substantial head and neck radiation from diagnostic imaging and have a higher incidence of thyroid nodules detected by ultrasonography. These patients should be provided ongoing surveillance for detection of thyroid nodules and the possibility of malignancy.

ObjectivesSialorrhea is a common health and psychosocial problem for children with neuromuscular dysfunction secondary to a variety of disorders such as cerebral palsy. Current accepted treatments include the injection of botulinum toxin into the submandibular glands for temporary symptom relief. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the feasibility of percutaneous ethanol injection for longer lasting salivary gland ablation in an animal model. Material and MethodsTwenty rats were used in this study. In each rat, 98% ethanol was injected into the right submandibular gland under ultrasound guidance. No intervention was performed on the left gland, which served as the control. Ten rats were sacrificed and glands evaluated at three weeks, with the remaining 10 rats sacrificed and evaluated at three months. Unpaired, 1-tailed T-tests were used to analyse the data.ResultsEthanol injections induced a significant and sustained reduction in salivary gland size. Treated glands were 41% smaller by mass than untreated controls in the 10 rats sacrificed at three weeks (P < 0.001). Treated glands were 43% smaller by mass than untreated controls in the 10 rats sacrificed at three months (P < 0.001). Qualitative histologic analysis demonstrated extensive parenchymal damage, inflammation, and fibrosis at both three week and three month time points.ConclusionsUsing a rat model, we demonstrated dramatic and sustained submandibular gland damage after percutaneous injection of ethanol.