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Salivary Gland Cysts – Summary

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We're shifting from sialodochitis and

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sialadenitis to salivary gland cysts.

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The most common of the salivary gland cysts is going

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to be the mucus retention cysts, and that is most

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commonly seen in the paranasal sinuses, although they

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can occur anywhere. We see them also in

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the nasopharynx quite frequently.

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Other retention cysts can occur after stricture or

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after calculus, particularly in the submandibular

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glandular region and the floor of the mouth, and these

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can be secondary to stricture of the duct.

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Pseudocyst is a different entity.

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Pseudocyst occurs if the duct ruptures and mucus

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escapes and then no longer communicates

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with the duct.

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So, that is to be distinguished with sialocele, which

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is salivary rest in an area of ductal trauma or bad

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drainage but still communicates with the duct.

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So, the difference between a pseudocyst is it's

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walled off usually with fibrous tissue and no longer

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communicates with the ductal system, whereas a

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sialocele still communicates with the ductal system

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secondary to ductal trauma in most cases.

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Other types of cysts include the lymphoepithelial

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cysts, which you've heard me refer to with patients

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who have Sjögren's syndrome and also sometimes with lupus.

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The other scenario where we see lymphoepitheliosis

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is in patients who are HIV positive and/or have AIDS,

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and they can have lymphoepithelial cysts and nodules, but

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branchial cleft cysts may also occur within the

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salivary glands, particularly the parotid gland.

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And this would be the type one,

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the first branchial cleft cyst occurring within the

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parotid gland, dermoid cysts possibly with fat

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contamination or epidermoids with bright

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signal intensity on diffusion-

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weighted scans or other cysts that can

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occur within the salivary glands.

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You can have lymphatic vascular malformations that

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occur within the salivary glands, and these also

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would appear as cystic lesions in the glands or in

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the other portions of the neck, the extraglandular tissue.

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Remember that so-called cystic hygromas, which are

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your sort of macrocystic lymphatic vascular

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malformations, occur in children less than two years

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of age, and they will occur in the neck, usually

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posterior triangle going towards the axilla.

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Other cysts that we're going to talk about are

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ranulas, and most of these are painless lumps

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that are unassociated with inflammation.

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Here we have a patient who has a cyst

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that is in the parotid gland.

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You look at the signal intensity; you see it's dark on

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T1 and then you see it's very similar to CSF and

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bright on T2-weighted scan, very bright on T2.

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Now, if you look at the rim here,

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it does have a little bit of a black border.

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Could this be a pleomorphic adenoma?

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After all, they are very bright on T2-weighted scans

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and they may be dark on T1.

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This is the reason why we have to proceed with

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gadolinium enhancement to see where

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this lesion enhances solidly,

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in which case we would call it a pleomorphic

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adenoma, or if it does not enhance,

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except maybe a little peripheral rim,

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in which case it's going to represent a parotid cyst.

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This was a first branchial cleft cyst. With regard to

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first branchial cleft anomalies, you can have cysts,

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you can have sinus tracts, and you can have fistulas,

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depending upon where it may communicate either with

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the skin surface or even the external auditory

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canal. And there are two different types.

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There are the preauricular or preaural ones,

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as well as the type two,

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which will grow from the angle of

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the mandible into the parotid gland.

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And the type two is more common than the type one,

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first branchial cleft cyst.

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Here is the Arno classification of type one or type

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two first branchial cleft cyst. Here is the cyst,

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which is located near the pinna of the ear and does

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not communicate with the external canal.

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Here's the type two,

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which starts out down at the angle of the mandible,

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courses through the parotid gland and may

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communicate with the external canal with a fistula.

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Here is an Arn-type two,

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first branchial cleft cyst, starts low in the parotid or

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around the angle of the mandible and

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proceeds through the parotid gland,

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and then from there communicates

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to the external auditory canal.

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So, this would be Arno type two, starting low,

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going through the parotid gland,

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and coming up to the external auditory canal.

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Here's another example of a first branchial cleft cyst,

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showing absence of contrast enhancement.

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It has bright signal intensity.

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Could it be a pleomorphic adenoma?

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Absolutely not.

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Here is another one.

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And on the cyst imaging, there is fluid

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and a fluid level within this first branchial cyst.

Report

Description

Faculty

David M Yousem, MD, MBA

Professor of Radiology, Vice Chairman and Associate Dean

Johns Hopkins University

Tags

Trauma

Temporal bone

Salivary Glands

Pediatrics

Non-infectious Inflammatory

Neuroradiology

Neck soft tissues

MRI

Head and Neck

Congenital

CT

Acquired/Developmental

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