Preservation of the Facial Artery during Submandibular Gland Resection: Preoperative Sonographic Assessment of Facial Artery

Choi, Hyung Joon; Ryu, Sung Hoon; Lee, Hyung Min; Park, Ji Hoon; Kim, Jin Hwan; Lee, Dong Jin

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
The traditional surgical method for submandibular gland resection includes ligation of facial artery. In this study, we used ultrasound preoperatively and tried to preserve the facial artery if facial artery passed on an extra-glandular course with a glandular branch.
SUBJECTS AND METHOD
Patients undergoing submandibular gland resection either because of submandibular gland tumor or submandibular gland stone were prospectively included. Preoperative sonographic assessment was done to evaluate the intra-glandular or extra-glandular course of facial artery. For the cases with extra-glandular course with a glandular branch of facial artery, we tried to preserve facial artery by ligation of the glandular branch.
RESULTS
A total of 34 cases were included in this study. Among them, 6 cases (17%) hadfacial artery passing on an extraglandular course with glandular branching. For these 6 cases, we easily could find the facial artery and glandular branch in the operative field and were able to preserve the facial artery. For the remaining 28 cases, however, the facial artery penetrated through the submandibular gland, thus we opted for the ligation of facial artery rather than preserving it to minimize bleeding or trauma during the surgery. There were no statistic difference between two groups with respect to clinical and surgical variables.
CONCLUSION
Extra-glandular course of facial artery was easily assessed by preoperative ultrasound. In those cases, we could preserve facial artery easily without bleeding or trauma to the submandibular gland by ligation of glandular branch. As facial artery is animportant vessel for reconstruction and facial rejuvenation, it is preferable to preserve this artery if the course of this artery makes it possible to preserve.