Son et al. Journal of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery (2016) 45:22 DOI 10.1186/s40463-016-0137-3 ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access The surgical plane for lingual tonsillectomy: an anatomic study Eugene L. Son1*, Michael P. Underbrink1, Suimin Qiu2 and Vicente A. Resto1 Abstract Background: The presence of a plane between the lingual tonsils and the underlying soft tissue has not been confirmed. The objective of this study is to ascertain the presence and the characteristics about this plane for surgical use. Methods: Five cadaver heads were obtained for dissection of the lingual tonsils. Six permanent sections of previous tongue base biopsies were reviewed. Robot assisted lingual tonsillectomy was performed using the dissection technique from the cadaver dissection. Results: In each of the 5 cadavers, an avascular plane was revealed deep to the lingual tonsils. Microscopic review of the tongue base biopsies revealed a clear demarcation between the lingual tonsils and the underlying minor salivary glands and muscle tissue. This area was relatively avascular. Using the technique described above, a lingual tonsillectomy using TORS was performed with similar findings from the cadaver dissections. Conclusions: A surgical plane for lingual tonsillectomy exists and may prove to have a role with lingual tonsillectomy with TORS. Keywords: Lingual tonsil, Surgical plane, Transoral robotic surgery, Lingual tonsillectomy Background There has been an increase in the incidence of human The base of tongue had once been a difficult area for papilloma virus (HPV) related oropharyngeal squamous surgery to perform on because of problems with expos- cell carcinoma [3]. A large of number of SCCUP with ure. With new innovations in endoscope technology, negative clinical and radiographical evidence of a pri- transoral laser microsurgery and transoral robotic sur- mary tumor are most commonly found to have primar- gery (TORS) with the da Vinci Surgical System manufac- ies in the palatine and lingual tonsils. More recently, tured by Intuitive Surgical, Inc., access to the tongue performing palatine tonsillectomy and lingual tonsil- base has been made more feasible. In the base of tongue, lectomy has returned finding the primary tumor in the lingual tonsils are an important target for surgery. 75–90 % allowing patients to receive a decreased amount There are two main indications for lingual tonsillectomy. of radiation lessening side effects [3, 4]. The first indication is lingual tonsil hypertrophy Lingual tonsillectomy techniques include cold dissec- (LTH), which can contribute to obstructive sleep apnea tion, electrocautery, coblation, carbon dioxide (CO2) (OSA) in pediatric and adult patients. LTH among other laser and microdebrider [5–9]. Many of these methods functionally or fixed areas of obstruction in the upper ablate or disrupt the microarchitecture of the lingual aerodigestive tract are targets for sleep surgery. In tonsils. In SCCUP, carpet resection of the lingual tonsils pediatric patients, LTH can be primary or a secondary requires the desired tissue to be left intact for diagnosis following a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy [1]. under a microscope by a pathologist. Lingual tonsillec- The second indication is for squamous cell carcinoma tomy techniques have been described but no evidence of of unknown primary (SCCUP) in the head and neck [2]. a surgical plane of dissection is available. Some have de- scribed the presence of a potential capsule and some * Correspondence: [email protected] have stated there is none. Joseph et al. described a layer 1Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, University of Texas Medical Branch, 301 University Boulevard, Galveston, TX 77555, USA of fibrous tissue that sometimes delineates this tissue Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © 2016 Son et al. Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. Son et al. Journal of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery (2016) 45:22 Page 2 of 5 from the tongue but no definite capsule [10]. Multiple specimens were reviewed for histological characterization authors in the early 20th century described a potential of the lingual tonsils. plane as “a basement membrane analogous to the cap- sule of the faucial tonsils” but not as delineated or devel- Robot-assisted lingual tonsillectomy oped as that tissue [11–14]. Dundar et al. describes the A 52 year old male with SCCUP in the left neck under- lingual tonsil having no capsule [5]. Lin and Koltai in went robot assisted lingual tonsillectomy as well as bilat- their case series of coblation of lingual tonsillectomy in eral palatine tonsillectomy. A Fehy-Kastenbauer mouth 26 pediatric patients describe no clear demarcation gag was used for access to the tongue base. The da Vinci between the lingual tonsils and the tongue muscula- Surgical System was brought into the surgical field with ture, although the change in tissue quantities becomes visualization of the lingual tonsils. The 30-degree angled readily apparent [1]. We believe that deep to the lin- endoscope was placed in the midline, and the two work- gual tonsils, a relatively avascular plane made up of ing robotic arms were placed in the appropriate position. connective tissue exists. This potential surgical plane A Maryland dissector was used on the right arm and a may be utilized in lingual tonsillectomy for the afore- monopolar cautery hook was used on the left arm for mentioned indications. the left sided lingual tonsillectomy. The robot was then used to assist taking the lingual tonsil tissue down to the Methods muscle layer, starting medially and dissecting laterally. A This study was approved by the institutional review midline incision is made from the foramen cecum to an- board from the University of Texas Medical Branch. Five terior to the median glossoepiglottic fold. An incision is fresh cadaveric heads were procured for the purpose of also made immediately posterior to the circumvallate pa- this study. These cadavers were ages ranged from pilla. The anterior medial edge of a side of the lingual 86 years-old to 101 years-old including 2 females and 3 tonsils were grasped and dissection was performed in males. the lateral posterior direction until the lingual tonsils were removed as one specimen for each side. Care was take to remove the lymphoid tissue keeping the under- Cadaver dissection lying musculature intact. The specimens were then sent to The tongue from 5 cadaver heads were removed. Five the pathology department for histological review. complete dissections of the lingual tonsils were per- formed with scissors and forceps. First, a midline inci- Results and discussion sion is made from the foramen cecum to the vallecula. Cadaver dissection An incision is also made immediately posterior to the In all five cadaver dissections, the plane between the lin- circumvallate papilla. The anterior medial edge of a gual tonsils and the underlying musculature was identi- side of the lingual tonsils were grasped with forceps fied and used for excision of the lingual tonsils. There and then, dissection with the Iris scissors was per- was a plane of dissection easily separating the lingual formed in the lateral posterior direction until the lin- tonsils and the underlying tongue musculature. No gual tonsils were removed en bloc on each side. grossly visible vessels nor nerves were encountered dur- Grossly, the muscle was identified as darker red in ing the dissections (Fig. 1). color and striations present. The dissection is carried to the border of the lateral pharyngeal wall and pos- teriorly to the edge of the vallecula. Care was take to remove the lymphoid tissue while keeping the underlying muscle intact. Digital photography was performed during the dissections. Histological sectioning Six archived permanent sections of base of tongue biopsy specimens from the department of pathology at University of Texas Medical Branch were reviewed. Three cases with no malignancy detected and three cases with dysplasia were chosen for recording of digital pho- tography under magnification. These specimens were from base of tongue biopsies from patients with SCCUP Fig. 1 Gross dissection of lingual tonsils is shown. Left image shows and had been fixed in formalin, processed for paraffin em- the lingual tonsils before dissection and the right image shows the lingual tonsils dissected and reflected posteriorly bedding and stained with hematoxylin and eosin. These Son et al. Journal of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery (2016) 45:22 Page 3 of 5 Histological sectioning In these biopsies of the lingual tonsils, there was a rela- tively less vascular or avascular area between the lingual tonsil and the underlying minor salivary glands and muscle tissue in all cases (Figs. 2 and 3). Between the lingual tonsil and the submucosal muscular tissue at the base of the tongue a distinct space or line is demon- strated in both benign (Fig. 2) and premalignant (Fig. 3) cases. The space indicated by the drawn line is less vas- cular or avascular, by which the squamous mucosa with the lingual tonsil is distinct from the minor salivary gland and the muscle. The minor salivary gland and muscle is intimately admixed especially in the super- ficial portion of the muscle. Presence of submucosal edema (Fig. 2a) may exaggerate the space and pres- ence of dysplasia associated with peritumoral lym- phocytes infiltrate may obscure the space between the lingual tonsil and the underlying muscle as showed in Fig. 3c. However, in all conditions, dissection between two layers are feasible based on histological study.