Management of primary odontogenic myxoma

BACKGROUND: This retrospective study describes our experience in the management of odontogenic myxoma. METHODS: Thirty-four patients (23 female and 11 male) with single lesions were treated. Thirty-three patients were adults (mean age 33.5 years) and one child (age 6 years). Male:female ratio was 1:2. Different surgical procedures were used to treat the tumors. 11 lesions were treated by marginal osteotomy, 12 lesions by enucleation and curettage, 11 lesions by radical treatment (segmental or block resection). The follow-up period was 5-years. RESULTS: The success rate was 73.5%. The Kaplan-Meier method was applied to examine the outcome of the treatment. Analysis showed a significant difference between 3 types of treatment (P=0.041). The median overall of complete healing was 51.34 months (95% CI: 43.12-59.55; SD 4.19). In details, the median overall of healing was 34.91 months (95% CI: 20.66-49.17; SD 7.27) in patients of group A; 56.36 months (95% CI: 42.47-68.52; SD 3.46) in patients of group B and 47.27 months (95% CI: 49.56-63.15; SD 3.46) in patients of group C. CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that enucleation and curettage offer minimal benefit, and their use must be discouraged.