Premature fat deposition in the salivary glands associated with Sjögren syndrome: MR and CT evidence.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate abnormal fat deposition in the major salivary glands associated with Sjögren syndrome.


METHODS
We analyzed the fat deposition in the parotid and submandibular glands of 33 patients with Sjögren syndrome by using short-inversion-time inversion recovery (STIR) and fat-saturation MR sequences and CT values.


RESULTS
All three in vivo techniques substantially confirmed premature deposition of fat in the major salivary glands in association with Sjögren syndrome. Furthermore, this change was characteristic of Sjögren syndrome, and the severity of fat deposition correlated well with the impaired rates of salivary flow in these patients.


CONCLUSIONS
Monitoring of fat deposition might be useful for diagnosing Sjögren syndrome and assessing its progress in patients whose clinical and serologic findings are suggestive of the disease.
Izumi
M
M
Department of Radiology, Nagasaki University School of Dentistry, Sakamoto, Japan.
Eguchi
K
K
Nakamura
H
H
Nagataki
S
S
Nakamura
T
T
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005223:Fats / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010306:Parotid Gland / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D012469:Salivary Glands / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012796:Sialography; D012859:Sjogren's Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
D005223:Fats