Sublingual gastric duplication cyst causing respiratory obstruction: case report

Abstract

A four-month old girl presented with difficulty in feeding and respiratory obstructrion from a sublingual cyst. Respiratory obstruction was relieved by needle aspiration of the cyst, followed 14 days later by complete excision. Histology of the cyst wall confirmed it to be a gastric duplication cyst. Though the gastric mucosa has a high propensity to deviate to ectopic sites, sublingual location is uncommon. The treatment of such cysts is preferably complete excision. However, when the cyst wall is closely associated with vital structures, cyst mucosectomy or partial excision with stripping of the mucosa of the residual part may suffice.