Our Experience at Tertiary Medical College: Excision with Sublabial Approach Versus Marsupialization with Transnasal Endoscopic Approach in Patients with Nasolabial Cyst

Abstract

Rare non-odontogenic cysts of the soft tissue of the midface that form between the nasal vestibule and upper lip are known as nasolabial cysts. Treatment can be accomplished by surgical removal, injection of sclerosing material into the cyst, and endoscopic marsupialization. The aim of this study is to compare the effectiveness of Excision with sublabial approach versus Marsupialization with Transnasal Endoscopic approach in patients with Nasolabial cyst in terms of operating time, recurrence rate, postoperative pain and complications. Our study was Duration based prospective observational study with a Duration of four years from August 2018 till July 2022 with study population inclusive of 30 patients aged between 20 and 70 years who were diagnosed with a unilateral nasolabial cyst on the basis of clinical presentation, anatomical location, and computed tomography (CT) findings at ENT Department of our Tertiary Institution. The study used a randomized, single blind, parallel design with a total of 30 patients, which were randomly allocated to undergo Excision with sublabial approach (group A) in 15 patients (15 nasolabial cysts) and Marsupialization with Transnasal Endoscopic approach (Group B) in 15 patients (15 Nasolabial cysts). In the sublabial approach group, the mean operating time was 91.28 ± 3.1 min, whereas in the transnasal marsupialization group, it was 29.7 ± 3.2 min. These differences were statistically significant (P = 0.003). In the excision with sublabial approach and transnasal endoscopic marsupialization groups, the visual analogue scale (VAS) for postoperative pain was 5.9 ± 1.4 and 3.2 ± 0.6, respectively (P = 0.001). Ten patients in the sublabial approach group and five patients in the transnasal marsupialization group had one or more problems during the follow-up period which disappeared spontaneously within 4 weeks without long lasting issues. There were no recurrence lesions or obstructions of the marsupialized cyst opening in either group, according to physical, endoscopic and computed tomography examinations. Nasolabial cysts can be marsupialized transnasally, which offers many advantages over the more traditional sublabial excision method. Transnasal endoscopic marsupialization has the benefits of a shorter operating time, less postoperative pain, and a low complication rate. Therefore, we propose that Transnasal Endoscopic marsupialization be the treatment of choice for nasolabial cyst, replacing the conventional Excision with sublabial approach.