Congenital mucocele in the tongue: report of a case

Large lingual heterotopic gastrointestinal cyst in a newborn: A case report

BACKGROUND

Heterotopic gastrointestinal cysts have gastrointestinal epithelium in the cyst wall and rarely occur in the oral cavity. Most are found in the neonatal period. However, heterotopic gastrointestinal cysts that are diagnosed as a congenital tongue cyst by routine ultrasonography are extremely rare.

CASE SUMMARY

A 12-day-old female presented with swelling of the anterior tongue. The obstetrician had detected significant tongue swelling on fetal ultrasonography in the 35^th gestational week. The female was born by cesarean delivery at gestational week 39. She soon became dyspneic, and the cyst was aspirated. After the aspiration, her breathing recovered and she started breastfeeding. The cyst was excised under general anesthesia on the 67^th day. Histopathologic examination showed that that cyst wall consisted of a lining of columnar gastrointestinal-type epithelium and pseudostratified ciliated epithelium. The patient restarted breastfeeding 3 h after surgery. The postoperative course was uneventful.

CONCLUSION

Airway distress and feeding difficulty were successfully avoided by cyst aspiration, and surgical resection was performed with no perioperative complications.

Mucoceles of the lesser salivary glands in neonates demonstrate a particular clinicopathological pattern and mandate urgent management

Mucoceles of the lesser salivary glands are common benign lesions affecting all ages, most commonly appearing on the lower lip. However, mucoceles in neonates demonstrate a different clinicopathological pattern than in older children or adults and mandate urgent management. We present a case of a large mucocele on the tongue of a neonate, which impaired feeding and could block the airway. The lesion was resected on the 3rd day of life. We describe a surgical technique that facilitates this procedure. Our literature review revealed 13 neonatal lesser salivary gland mucocele cases, 7 of which were located on the tongue. All tongue cysts were large, impaired feeding and sometimes blocked the airway. Early treatment is usually imperative. Inclusion cysts outnumbered extravasation cysts. Prenatal diagnosis is important in order to arrange delivery in an organized center. Resection is the preferable procedure.

A congenital mucocele of the anterior dorsal tongue

We report on a new-born with a congenital mucocele on the anterior dorsal side of the tongue. The presentation as well as the differential diagnosis of congenital oral swellings is discussed. Because of breastfeeding problems the mucinous swelling was incised and drained two days after birth. Immediately after drainage the swelling disappeared. Congenital oral swellings are rare. Most of them are mucoceles. Post-partum treatment is surgically, but spontaneous remission has been described. High incidence of recurrence should be taken into account when (micro-)marsupialization or incision as sole treatment is performed.