Division of tongue tie as an outpatient procedure. Technique, efficacy and safety.

OBJECTIVES: Assessment of the clinical presentations and the outcome of tongue tie division under local anesthesia. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective study. SETTING: Glan Clwyd Hospital. INTERVENTION: All babies had tongue tie division in the ENT outpatient clinic under local anaesthesia between May 2010 and June 2011. Preoperative symptoms and parents' feedback were determined using questionnaires based on NICE guidelines. RESULTS: 63 infants had tongue tie division in outpatient clinic. Average age of the procedure was 4.1 weeks. Before the procedure, 66.7% of babies had difficulty in breast-feeding. 11.1% had poor growth. 22.2% had limitation in tongue movement. 27.7% of the mothers had breast problems such as cracking and soreness of the nipples. All the preoperative problems were resolved in 98.4%. 77.1% of parents' comments were positive. They described procedure as quick with minimal distress. 88.9% had no complications following division of tongue tie. CONCLUSION: Tongue tie division is a simple procedure with minimal complications. It can be undertaken under local anesthesia within first 3 months of life in the outpatient environment. Timely diagnosis, referral and treatment can make a difference in breast-feeding and weight gain.

Follicular variant of papillary carcinoma arising from lingual thyroid.

Malignant transformation of ectopic lingual thyroid tissue is an uncommon event; only 43 cases have been reported in the literature. Only 10 of these cases were papillary carcinomas, in contrast to normal thyroid gland neoplasms, of which papillary tumors form the predominant group. We present a case of a follicular variant of papillary carcinoma originating from the lingual thyroid, along with a review of the literature. Our patient was treated with surgical excision followed by (131)I therapy. To date, only 2 other cases of a follicular variant of lingual thyroid tumor have been reported.