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Case Reports
. 2023 Apr 2;15(4):e37049.
doi: 10.7759/cureus.37049. eCollection 2023 Apr.

A Rare Case of Congenital Plunging Ranulas: Diagnosis With Intraoral and Extraoral Ultrasound and Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Affiliations
Case Reports

A Rare Case of Congenital Plunging Ranulas: Diagnosis With Intraoral and Extraoral Ultrasound and Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Udai Chowdhary et al. Cureus. .

Abstract

Ranulas are cystic lesions located in the floor of the mouth. These are "pseudocysts" and are developed due to an obstruction in the sublingual gland. Congenital variants of plunging ranulas are very rare. Here, we report a case of an eight-year-old male child presenting with congenital swelling with an intraoral component as well as extension to the submandibular gland region. The swelling was painless and gradually growing in size.

Keywords: mucous retention cyst; plunging ranula; ranula; sublingual swelling; submandibular pseudocyst; submandibular swelling.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Clinical photograph of sublingual soft tissue swelling (yellow arrow).
Figure 2
Figure 2. Intraoral B-mode ultrasound showing a sublingual component as a well-defined cystic lesion in the floor of the mouth with multiple internal echoes within it (blue arrow).
Figure 3
Figure 3. B-mode ultrasound of the submandibular region showing the submandibular component of the ranula (orange arrow) as a morphologically similar well-defined cystic lesion with multiple moving internal echoes within it. No vascularity was demonstrated on color Doppler. No calcification or septation was seen.
Figure 4
Figure 4. B-mode ultrasound in the oblique sagittal plane showing a sublingual component (yellow arrow) and a submandibular component (red arrow). A defect in the mylohyoid muscle is present through which the ranula is extending from the sublingual to submandibular region (blue arrow).
Figure 5
Figure 5. Sagittal T1 weighted image showing a well-defined iso-hypointense lesion with a sublingual component (yellow arrow) and a submandibular component (red arrow).
Figure 6
Figure 6. Sagittal T2 weighted image showing a well-defined hyperintense lesion with a sublingual component (yellow arrow) and a submandibular component (red arrow).
Figure 7
Figure 7. Sagittal postcontrast T1 weighted image showing no postcontrast enhancement in the lesion.

References

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