Role of Ultrasound and Computed Tomography in Evaluation of Salivary Glands Lesions

ABSRACT Background:The most typical reason for salivary gland swellings is mumps, one of the viral diseases of the salivary gland.Another reason for swelling is a tumor.The parotid glands are the primary source of around 70% of salivary gland tumors.The initial imaging technique for swollen salivary glands is ultrasound.Examining the deep lobe of the parotid with ultrasound (U/S) is challenging.Objective: The aim of the current work was to evaluate the role of ultrasound and computed tomography (CT) in the differentiation between benign and malignant salivary glands lesions.Patients and Methods: A cross sectional analytic study was conducted on 46 patients with swellings in the head and neck of either gender referred from the outpatient clinics of ENT, head and neck surgery and dentists to Radiology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia university, Sheikh Zayed Specialized Hospital, and some private center during the period from November 2021 to November 2022.Results: showed that, primary and final diagnoses of salivary gland lesions by ultrasound and computed tomography were the same, that (39.1%) of patients suffered from sialadenitis, followed by both of sialolithiasis and benign tumor (21.7%), followed by malignant tumors (8.7%), and abscess and cystic lesion (4.3%).Inflammatory lymph nodes was significantly higher in ultrasound than computed tomography versus pathological lymph nodes, it was significantly higher in CT than U/S (p=0.032).Conclusions: It could be concluded that CT and ultrasonography can be used to diagnose abnormalities of the salivary glands accurately.It is a helpful imaging technique for evaluating salivary gland masses.It could assist in distinguishing between benign and malignant tumors and reduce the range of possible diagnosis.