title: The role of salivary gland elastosonography in Sjögren's syndrome: preliminary results.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  There is a need for a reliable, noninvasive radiological method for the assessment of salivary gland changes in Sjögren's syndrome (SS). The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of elastosonography as a noninvasive, sonographic modality evaluating tissue stiffness for salivary gland involvement in SS.
  
  
  METHODS
  We examined the stiffness in parotid and submandibular glands of 23 patients diagnosed with SS and 20 healthy volunteers. Elasticity scores of the salivary glands were classified into four groups according to the degree of the elasticity of the glands.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The elasticity scores of the parotid and submandibular glands did not show a statistically significant difference between the patients with SS and the healthy volunteers. On the other hand, there was a significant relationship between the duration of the symptoms and the elasticity score of the parotid glands and left submandibular glands (P < 0.05). Patients with higher duration of symptoms had higher elasticity scores.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results might suggest that with the progression of the SS, the elasticity scores of the parotid glands increase gradually, indicating that ultrasonic elastosonography has the potential to demonstrate the progression of the disease. The utility of elastosonography in the follow-up of SS needs to be evaluated with larger studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Diskapi Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Idil
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Gunes Tatar
authors.forename: Hale
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Altunoglu
authors.forename: Aydin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kurt
authors.forename: Alparslan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Altunoglu
authors.forename: Mehmet Akif
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Ozturk
authors.forename: Sukran
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Erten
authors.forename: Baki
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hekimoglu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D018450:Disease Progression; D004548:Elasticity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010306:Parotid Gland / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D012469:Salivary Glands / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D012859:Sjogren's Syndrome / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D013363:Submandibular Gland / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D014463:Ultrasonography
keywords: Sjögren's syndrome; elastosonography; salivary glands