A comparative study between MR sialography and salivary gland scintigraphy in the diagnosis of Sjögren syndrome.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this work was to compare the diagnostic accuracy of MR sialography with that of salivary gland scintigraphy in Sjögren syndrome.


METHODS
One hundred thirty patients clinically suspected of having Sjögren syndrome were examined by MR sialography and salivary gland scintigraphy. A labial gland biopsy was performed in all patients. Imaging findings of MR sialography and salivary gland scintigraphy were compared with the results of labial gland biopsy.


RESULTS
From the results of labial gland biopsy, the diagnosis of Sjögren syndrome was established in 80 patients. Abnormally high T2 signal intensity areas on MR sialography and decreased uptake and delayed excretion of [(99m)Tc]pertechnetate on salivary gland scintigraphy were well seen in patients with Sjögren syndrome. For the diagnosis of Sjögren syndrome, salivary gland scintigraphy showed higher sensitivity than MR sialography. On the other hand, MR sialography showed higher specificity and positive predictive value (PPV) than salivary gland scintigraphy. Overall diagnostic accuracy was 83% for MR sialography and 72% for salivary gland scintigraphy.


CONCLUSIONS
The high PPV of MR sialography suggests that MR sialography is the preferred imaging modality in patients suspected of having Sjögren syndrome.
Department of Radiology , Kanazawa Medical University, Ishikawa, Japan. tonami@kanazawa-med.ac.jp
H
H
Tonami
K
K
Higashi
M
M
Matoba
H
H
Yokota
I
I
Yamamoto
S
S
Sugai
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001706:Biopsy; D002648:Child; D005088:Exocrine Glands / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008046:Lip / Q000473:pathology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D012469:Salivary Glands / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012859:Sjogren's Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D013670:Sodium Pertechnetate Tc 99m
D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D013670:Sodium Pertechnetate Tc 99m