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Ho:Yag laser for sialolithiasis of Wharton's duct
Salvatore Martellucci1, Giulio Pagliuca, Marco de Vincentiis
1Department of Surgical Biotechnologies and Science, ENT Section Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. salvomartello@live.it
Objective:
To assess the feasibility of intracorporeal lithotripsy with holmium YAG laser under sialoendoscopic guidance for sialolithiasis of Wharton's duct.
Study Design:
Case series with planned data collection.
Setting:
Tertiary referral university hospital.
Methods:
This study was conducted on 16 patients with sialolithiasis of Wharton's duct. Diagnosis was confirmed at ultrasound examination. Patients with stones ranging from 5 to 8 mm in diameter were enrolled in the study. The selected patients underwent intracorporeal lithotripsy with holmium Yag laser under endoscopic control. Debris was removed using sialoendoscopic forceps or a wire basket during the same procedure. After a 3-month follow-up, radiological tests were rerun.
Results:
Stone fragmentation was possible in all cases. All patients experienced a regular postoperative course. Postoperative ultrasound examinations revealed residual stones in 3 patients, 1 of whom was asymptomatic. Three patients complained of residual symptoms after 3 months of follow-up. These patients were treated successfully during a second sialoendoscopic procedure.
Conclusions:
In our experience, endoscopic laser lithotripsy was proved to be a feasible technique for Wharton's duct lithiasis in clinical practice.
