Surgical management of conventional ameloblastoma: a retrospective cohort study over the past 21 years

Conventional ameloblastoma presents infiltrative behavior and its treatment ranges from enucleation combined with adjuvant therapies to marginal/segmental resection. The purpose of this study is to present a cohort of twenty-four patients with ameloblastoma treated in the same institution after marginal/segmental resection for the past 21 years. All cases had diagnosis confirmation by incisional biopsy. Patients with an unconfirmed diagnosis and missing follow-up information were excluded. Data were categorized into clinicopathological, surgical and recurrence aspects. Thirteen patients were females (54%). The mean age was 40.2 years. Mandible was the most affected site (91%). The mean length of the lesions was 4.10 cm (± 2.06) and the multilocular aspect was predominant (83%). Root resorption (37.5%), tooth displacement (45.8%) and cortical perforation (45.8%) were noticed. Histologically, most of the cases were follicular (n = 19,79%). Microscopic analysis showed positive margins in four cases. Patients were treated by marginal (n = 19) and segmental (n = 5) resections. Recurrence occurred in two cases (8.33%). Both primary and recurrent ameloblastomas were treated through marginal resections and no recurrence was observed during the past 9 and 5 years after the last intervention, respectively. The overall mean follow-up was 79.25 months and patients are still monitored over these years. Marginal/segmental resection of conventional ameloblastoma is associated with a low recurrence rate.