CLINICAL CASES   

Rivista Italiana di Chirurgia Maxillo-Facciale 2002 April;13(1):57-9

Copyright © 2003 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Congenital unilateral absence of a submandibular gland. A case report

Tartaro G. P. ², Capone R. ², Gaetani L. ², Santagata M. ², Villani M. ¹

¹ Faculty of Medicine and Surgery 2 Institute of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Second University of Naples, Naples

The ­case is report­ed of a 69-­year ­old wom­an ­with uni­lat­er­al agen­e­sis of ­the ­right sub­man­dib­u­lar sal­i­vary ­gland asso­ciat­ed ­with hypo­pla­sia of ­the homo­lat­er­al fron­tal ­sinus. Diagnosis ­was for­tui­tous; diag­no­sis ­was con­firmed by ultra­so­nog­ra­phy of ­the ­neck, com­pu­ter­ised tomog­ra­phy in ­axial ­and cor­o­nal pro­jec­tion ­and scin­tig­ra­phy of ­the sal­i­vary ­glands ­with endo­ve­nous injec­tion of 99tech­ne­tium per­tech­ne­tate, ­which ena­bled a cer­tain diag­no­sis to be for­mu­lat­ed. There ­was no xeros­to­mia, no prob­lems of deglu­ti­tion, no def­i­cit of ­any oth­er struc­tures of ­the ­oral cav­ity of ecto­der­mic ori­gin: den­tal ena­mel, ­minor sal­i­vary ­glands, muco­sa lin­ing of ­the ­oral cav­ity. There ­being no symp­toms, no ther­a­py ­was ­required, ­due to ­the nor­mal func­tion­ing of ­the oth­er ­major sal­i­vary ­gland. Unilateral agen­e­sis of a sub­man­dib­u­lar ­gland ­was a for­tui­tous find­ing ­due to ­the ­lack of symp­toms. Congenital ­absence of ­this sal­i­vary ­gland asso­ciat­ed ­with hypo­pla­sia of ­the homo­lat­er­al fron­tal ­sinus is a clin­i­cal con­di­tion nev­er pre­vi­ous­ly ­described in ­the lit­er­a­ture.