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Diode laser to treat small oral vascular malformations: A prospective case series study
Author(s) -
Bacci Christian,
Sacchetto Luca,
Zanette Gastone,
Sivolella Stefano
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
lasers in surgery and medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.888
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1096-9101
pISSN - 0196-8092
DOI - 10.1002/lsm.22737
Subject(s) - medicine , visual analogue scale , surgery , prospective cohort study , lesion , laser , laser treatment , oral mucosa , physics , optics , pathology
Objective The current work examined a consecutive series of patients presenting vascular malformations (VMs) and venous lakes (VLs) of the lip and oral mucosa who were treated with transmucosal diode laser applications and assessed over a 1 year period. Study Design and Methods Fifty‐nine patients (31 males and 28 females) presenting low‐flow VMs or VLs of the oral cavity were treated transmucosally using a diode laser (with an 830 nm operating wavelength and 1.6 W output power) with a 320 µm diameter flexible fiber. All the lesions were assessed 7 days, 30 days, and 1 year after the laser treatment, and the lesion reduction percentage was scored on a one to five scale. The patients were also asked to assess their pain perception daily during the 7 days following the treatment using a visual analog scale (VAS). Results There were no procedure‐related intra‐ or post‐operative complications; only modest pain intensity was reported. Thirty days after the treatment, lesion reduction was described as excellent or good in 52 cases; it was fair or poor in 7. Six patients (F:M ratio 2:4) required a second diode laser application. At the 1 year follow‐up, volume reduction was complete in 48 out of 59 patients; there were five recurrences (F:M ratio 3:2). No relevant gender‐related differences were noted. Conclusion The use of diode laser application to treat small oral VMs and VLs was associated to shorter operating times and fewer postoperative complications with respect to the scapel surgery approach. More than one session may nevertheless be required if the anomaly is larger than 10 mm. Lasers Surg. Med. 50:111–116, 2018. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.