OBJECTIVE: We present an overview of international literature concerning macroglossia-related etiology, clinical and instrumental diagnoses, surgical treatments, complications, and recurrences. Moreover, we present a series of cases of patients affected by macroglossia who have been treated surgically at the Department of Maxillofacial Surgery of the University of Rome "La Sapienza". METHODS: Between 1990 and 1999, only after attempts to solve this pathologic condition with medical and orthodontic treatment, we treated surgically a total of 7 patients (4 male and 3 female). The surgical techniques used were Köle glossectomy and Dingman and Grabb glossectomy. We analyzed the clinical and instrumental study and the surgical treatment, including possible complications and recurrences. RESULTS: After follow-up of a period from 2 to 9 years, macroglossia recurrences were absent, showing that the Köle and the Dingman and Grabb glossectomies are viable surgical options for treatment of macroglossia. CONCLUSION: The best therapy for each case macroglossia must be carefully evaluated, with the right medical therapy and orthodontic therapy attempted first and surgical treatment performed only when the first and second therapy fail. Moreover, surgical techniques must be chosen in accordance with the functional results that one wants to achieve and must be the most conservative technique to preserve the vascular-nerve bundle.
OBJECTIVE: We present an overview of international literature concerning macroglossia-related etiology, clinical and instrumental diagnoses, surgical treatments, complications, and recurrences. Moreover, we present a series of cases of patients affected by macroglossia who have been treated surgically at the Department of Maxillofacial Surgery of the University of Rome "La Sapienza". METHODS: Between 1990 and 1999, only after attempts to solve this pathologic condition with medical and orthodontic treatment, we treated surgically a total of 7 patients (4 male and 3 female). The surgical techniques used were Köle glossectomy and Dingman and Grabb glossectomy. We analyzed the clinical and instrumental study and the surgical treatment, including possible complications and recurrences. RESULTS: After follow-up of a period from 2 to 9 years, macroglossia recurrences were absent, showing that the Köle and the Dingman and Grabb glossectomies are viable surgical options for treatment of macroglossia. CONCLUSION: The best therapy for each case macroglossia must be carefully evaluated, with the right medical therapy and orthodontic therapy attempted first and surgical treatment performed only when the first and second therapy fail. Moreover, surgical techniques must be chosen in accordance with the functional results that one wants to achieve and must be the most conservative technique to preserve the vascular-nerve bundle.
Authors: Frédéric Brioude; Jennifer M Kalish; Alessandro Mussa; Alison C Foster; Jet Bliek; Giovanni Battista Ferrero; Susanne E Boonen; Trevor Cole; Robert Baker; Monica Bertoletti; Guido Cocchi; Carole Coze; Maurizio De Pellegrin; Khalid Hussain; Abdulla Ibrahim; Mark D Kilby; Malgorzata Krajewska-Walasek; Christian P Kratz; Edmund J Ladusans; Pablo Lapunzina; Yves Le Bouc; Saskia M Maas; Fiona Macdonald; Katrin Õunap; Licia Peruzzi; Sylvie Rossignol; Silvia Russo; Caroleen Shipster; Agata Skórka; Katrina Tatton-Brown; Jair Tenorio; Chiara Tortora; Karen Grønskov; Irène Netchine; Raoul C Hennekam; Dirk Prawitt; Zeynep Tümer; Thomas Eggermann; Deborah J G Mackay; Andrea Riccio; Eamonn R Maher Journal: Nat Rev Endocrinol Date: 2018-01-29 Impact factor: 43.330