Intracystic injection of OK-432 was developed as a therapy
for operatively difficult lymphangioma (cystic hygroma) and is
currently becoming a treatment of first choice for this disease
in Japan.
First, we tried this therapy for ranula.
We treated thirty two patients with ranula ( oral floor type in
23 cases, and plunging type in 16 cases ) by this method. Disappearance
or reduction of the lesion was observed in 97% of patients having
this therapy, and local scarring did not occur in any patient.
As side effects, local pain at the injection site and fever (
37 to 39 ℃ ) were observed in about 1／3 of patients having this
therapy, but such problems disappeared within a few days. Thus,
we confirmed that intracystic injection therapy with OK-432 is
safe and can be a substitute for surgery in the treatment of ranulas.
Next, we tried this therapy for other cystic diseases
in head and neck areas such as othematomas, lingual cysts, median
cervical cysts, lateral cervical cysts and others. The efficiency
of this treatment for othematomas was 100%, for lingual cysts
was 100%, for median cervical cysts was 90.0%, and for lateral
cervical cysts was 0%.
From these results, we
concluded that pseudocysts, such as ranula and othematomas, and
thinly epithelized cysts, such as lymphangioma and median cervical
cysts, are good indications for this therapy, but thickly epithelized
cysts such as a lateral cervical cyst, is not an indication.