title: Ultrasonography of the salivary glands in the evaluation of Sjögren's syndrome. Comparison with sialography.
abstract: Ultrasonography (US) was evaluated as noninvasive method to determine salivary gland involvement and compared with sialography in patients with Sjögren's syndrome (SS) and patients with only objective xerostomia and/or xerophthalmia. Patients with complaints of dry eyes and dry mouth but with no objective abnormalities served as control group. Ultrasound revealed a decreased parotid gland reflectivity in most of the patients with SS, compared with only 2 patients in the other group (p = 0.002). Our study suggests that US can be a useful, noninvasive method in the diagnostic work-up of patients with sicca complaints.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, UZ Antwerpen, Belgium.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Corthouts
authors.forename: L S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: De Clerck
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Francx
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: De Schepper
authors.forename: H A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Vercruysse
authors.forename: W J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Stevens
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D012469:Salivary Glands / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D012796:Sialography; D012859:Sjogren's Syndrome / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D014463:Ultrasonography; D014985:Xerophthalmia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D014987:Xerostomia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging