Tongue lesions in children

Management of congenital lingual dermoid cysts

“…Some authors advocate early excision to prevent infection which would render later excision difficult [8,11,19] and may result in a sinus [6]. Other indications for early excision include: to facilitate normal breathing, occlusion and oral function in the case of a large cyst [10] to allow normal speech development and to excise the cyst whilst it is small and whilst surgery is easier leaving a smaller defect. However, considerations for delayed surgery would include the greater anaesthetic risk a child under 20 kg poses [7].…”

“…Post-operative pain, oedema, lingual sensation, size, shape, function/mobility, speech, taste, and wound healing must also be considered when deciding on the surgical approach to the tongue. Anatomically, incisions limited to the midline anterior and superficial two-thirds of the tongue are the least likely to interfere with tongue function as they are the least likely to traumatise the lingual, hypoglossal or glossopharyngeal nerves [10]. The midline sagittal glossotomy has been used for sublingual dermoid cysts [7], tumours of the posterior third of the tongue and as part of a labiomandibular glossotomy for access to the clivus, craniocervical junction or upper cervical spine in children [26].…”

“…Approximately 7% of all dermoid cysts occur in the head and neck [4], most commonly in the lateral third of the eyebrow [5]. Oral dermoid cysts account for 0.01% of all oral cysts and most commonly occur in the midline floor of mouth [6,7] However, the true incidence of oral dermoid cysts is not known due to the inclusion of epidermoid and teratoid varieties in many publications [8][9][10][11][12][13]. True lingual dermoid cysts are, therefore, rare entities Background: Lingual dermoid cysts are squamous epithelial-lined cavities with variable numbers of skin adnexae in the capsule and are rare entities in the head and neck.…”

Lingual tumors in infants: a case report and review of the literature

“…Malignant tumors of tongue are rare in childhood, but they do occur and have to be ruled out [22]. Reported cases showed many different histopathologic diagnoses as: benign epithelial cyst (mucous cyst) [8], thyroglossal duct cyst [12,16], ectopic thyroid [4], heterotopic gastric cyst [13], enterocystoma [7], dermoid cyst [20] bronchogenic cyst [3], cyst of foregut origin [24], polyp, chronic inflammatory mass, developmental nodules, pyogenic granuloma [2], hamartoma, squamous papilloma, cavernous hemangioma, vascular malformation, teratoma [15], lipoma [1], nerve sheath myxoma [19], leiomyoma [11], myofibromas and myofibromatosis [6], glial choristoma [21], congenital foregut duplication cysts [5], osseous choristoma, congenital cystadenoma [10], congenital granular cell tumor [17], and diffuse lesions as macroglossia and massively infiltrating congenital lymphatic malformation [18].…”

“…Tumors of the tongue and the base of mouth in infancy are rare [9,22]. Among these rare tumors, the incidence of simple cystic masses are even rarer [8].…”