PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Misa Sumi
AU  - Masahiro Izumi
AU  - Koichi Yonetsu
AU  - Takashi Nakamura
TI  - The MR Imaging Assessment of Submandibular Gland Sialoadenitis Secondary to Sialolithiasis: Correlation with CT and Histopathologic Findings
DP  - 1999 Oct 01
TA  - American Journal of Neuroradiology
PG  - 1737--1743
VI  - 20
IP  - 9
4099  - http://www.ajnr.org/content/20/9/1737.short
4100  - http://www.ajnr.org/content/20/9/1737.full
SO  - Am. J. Neuroradiol.1999 Oct 01; 20
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: MR imaging has been proved to be effective in depicting wide variety of pathologic changes of the salivary gland. Therefore, we evaluated clinical usefulness of MR imaging for sialolithiasis.METHODS: Sixteen patients with sialolithiasis of the submandibular gland underwent MR imaging. MR images of the glands were obtained with a conventional (T1-weighted), fast spin-echo (fat-suppressed T2-weighted) and short inversion time–inversion recovery sequences. Contrast enhancement was not used. MR imaging features then were compared with clinical symptoms, histopathologic features of excised glands, and CT imaging features.RESULTS: Submandibular glands with sialolithiasis could be classified into three types on the basis of clinical symptoms and MR imaging features of the glands. Type I glands were positive for clinical symptoms and MR imaging abnormalities, and were characterised histopathologically by active inflammation (9 [56%] of 16). Type II glands were negative for clinical symptoms and positive for MR imaging abnormalities (4 [25%] of 16), and the glands were replaced by fat. Type III glands were negative for clinical symptoms and MR imaging abnormalities (3 [19%] of 16). CT features of these glands correlated well with those of MR imaging.CONCLUSION: These results suggest that MR imaging features may reflect chronic and acute obstruction, and a combination of CT and MR imaging may complement each other in examining glands with sialolithiasis.