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Sialolithiasis – Summary

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0:01

We made it.

0:02

We got through all those neoplasms of the salivary glands,

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and now it's time for a nice little

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upper teeth of benign lesions.

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And these are usually inflammatory lesions.

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The most common of these is going to be sialolithiasis,

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and that is stones in the gland or in the ducts.

0:22

If you take all comers,

0:25

possibly mumps might still be the most common

0:28

inflammatory lesion of the parotid gland,

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and that usually causes a bilateral parotitis in children.

0:35

But with the MMR vaccination, that's a lot less common.

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So let's talk about sialolithiasis,

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and first define some terms.

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So, sialolithiasis refers to stones in the gland.

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If you use the term sialodocholithiasis,

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you're referring to calcifications, actually,

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within the duct.

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Sialadenitis means inflammation of the glandular tissue,

0:58

most common, again, being mumps.

1:00

Second most common staph aureus from an adjacent

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skin infection going into the parotid gland.

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If we use the term sialodochitis,

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we suggest that the duct itself is inflamed,

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and that might be because of sialodocholithiasis.

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Sialectasia is ductal dilatation

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or sialodochoectasia ductal dilatation.

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There is another term that is used which is sialosis.

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The synonym is sialadenosis,

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and as you can tell by the term -osis instead of -itis,

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we're suggesting a noninflammatory

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cause of glandular enlargement.

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So these are non-tender,

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noninflamed enlarged glands,

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usually the parotid glands,

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usually bilateral and symmetrical.

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This can occur due to metabolic

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diseases in the body, which include diabetes,

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thyroid and obesity,

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where you have just plump parotid glands.

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And you can also see them in other pathologic conditions

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associated with alcoholism, liver disease, hypertension,

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and some of the medications used to treat, for example,

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diabetes, thyroid, hypothyroidism and hypertension.

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So this is Sialosis, or Sialadenosis.

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What we see on imaging is just bilateral enlarged glands,

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which may show very faint contrast enhancement.

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So those are the terms we're going to be using,

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but we're going to start in on Sialolithiasis.

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So, Sialolithiasis is the ductal...

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is the calcifications in the gland within the gland itself,

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or sialodocholithiasis within the duct itself.

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This is predominantly a disease

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of the submandibular gland.

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But we do see calcifications in the ducts

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also associated with the parotid gland,

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and I've shown you a few examples of that.

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Why is it more common in the submandibular gland?

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Well, as you recall from our anatomic review,

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the secretions that occur from the submandibular gland

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are more mucous mucinous viscous,

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and therefore they are more likely to be

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thick and can lead to a concretion.

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The submandibular gland also has a more basic

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saliva which leads to a higher rate of calcification of

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the calcium oxalate and calcium phosphate

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which are the most common of the

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salivary duct...

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salivary duct stones.

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It also drains uphill from being in the submandibular gland

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below and draining up to the frenulum of the...

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on either side of the frenulum of the floor of the mouth.

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So therefore there's more likely to be stasis,

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whereas the parotid duct, Stensen's duct, tends to be going

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slightly downhill and anteriorly directed.

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The duct itself, as I mentioned, has

4:00

a tight orifice,

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but also is more likely to be traumatized at the floor

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of the mouth by things like food, et cetera.

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And that can narrow the duct and inflame the duct,

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so it gets quite narrow, and therefore

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the flow may be decreased.

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It has a very tight opening for insertion of

4:16

the catheter when you're doing sialography.

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When you have stones in the gland,

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they are multiple in about 25% of cases.

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Here is a patient who has multiple stones in the gland.

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So this is kind of classic, right?

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So we have multiple calcifications in the Wharton's duct,

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Wharton's duct being the duct of the submandibular gland,

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seen here as multiple. So, as I said, 25% multiplicity.

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And you notice that the gland itself is enlarged

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compared to the contralateral gland.

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It's a little bit lower density because it's edematous.

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So, what do we use the term?

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So these are Sialodocholithiasis,

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associated with Sialadenitis,

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post-obstructive inflammation of the submandibular gland.

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There's even a few lymph nodes nearby

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due to that inflammation.

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There also is sialodochoectasia,

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enlarged dilated gland...

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duct.

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sialodocho ectasia,

5:26

sialoectasia, enlarged duct which is obstructed.

Report

Description

Faculty

David M Yousem, MD, MBA

Professor of Radiology, Vice Chairman and Associate Dean

Johns Hopkins University

Tags

Salivary Glands

Neuroradiology

Metabolic

Head and Neck

CT

Acquired/Developmental

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