title: Sonography of the salivary glands.
abstract: In a blinded retrospective study of the efficacy of sonography of the salivary glands, we obtained sonograms on 849 patients. The patients were referred over the last 5 years from the ear, nose, and throat department of our university hospital. Eight-eight percent of the patients had symptoms related to the salivary glands. One hundred fifty-six of the patients (18%) were subsequently proved to be normal. The remaining 693 patients had diseases confirmed by histologic examination (332 patients), sialography (274 patients), or clinical follow-up (87 patients). Of these, 289 had salivary gland tumors (231 benign, 58 malignant), 185 had calculi, 154 had inflammation, 48 had autoimmune disease, 14 had cysts, and three had trauma. Two hundred eighty-seven (95%) of the 302 space-occupying lesions could be completely delineated by sonography, and the benign or malignant nature of the lesions was correctly assessed in 272 (90%). Of the 185 patients with calculi, the calculi were visualized and localized (intraductal vs intraglandular) on the sonograms in 174 (94%) patients. Abscesses were shown on the sonograms in 13 patients, and acute inflammation was shown on the sonograms in 84 patients. These results indicate that sonography is a useful procedure for diagnosis of diseases of the salivary glands.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gritzmann
mesh_terms: D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis; D002114:Calcinosis / Q000175:diagnosis; D005188:False Negative Reactions; D006801:Humans; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012466:Salivary Gland Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012468:Salivary Gland Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis; D012793:Sialadenitis / Q000175:diagnosis; D014463:Ultrasonography