Abstract

Background Salivary gland (SG) ultrasonography proved valuable for assessing SG involvement in Sjogren’s syndrome (SS) and seemed to exhibit good diagnostic properties. We have reported that the submandibular gland ultrasonography (SGUS) is a useful noninvasive and inexpensive procedure for the evaluation of the structural changes of SG in SS (ISSS 2002, EULAR 2009, EULAR 2012, EULAR 2015). However, our previously study demonstrated that although SGUS findings were useful for the diagnosis of SS with low salivary flow they were not for early stage SS with normal salivary flow (EULAR 2016). Recently, we reported that the tissue elasticity was decreased due to structural changes in the SG at the advanced stage of the disease and that the shear wave elastography (SWE) is useful to distinguish pathological changes of the SG between early stage with normal salivary flow and advanced stage (EULAR2018). The present study we demonstrated that the tissue elasticity was increased due to inflammation and high viscosity in the SG at the early stage of SS with normal salivary flow comparing that in non-SS patients, but was decreased due to structural changes in the SG at the advanced stage of the disease. The SWE may be a useful tool for elucidation of early stage pathological changes of the SG when salivary gland functions are not impaired in SS. Objectives The aim of this study was to elucidate the usefulness of SWE in early-stage SS patients. Methods Seventeen non-SS patients and eighty patients who fulfilled the American College of Rheumatology (ACR)/European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) classification criteria for SS were studied. SS patients were divided into three groups according to salivary flow using gum test (VL/SS: Results The Vs and E values were correlated with US staging score (r=-0.56, p Conclusion The present study we demonstrated that the tissue elasticity was increased due to inflammation and high viscosity in the SG at the early stage of SS with normal salivary flow comparing that in non-SS patients. The SWE may be a useful tool for the differential diagnosis between patients with non-SS and early-stage SS with normal salivary flow in contrast to conventional SGUS. Disclosure of Interests None declared

Full Text
Published version (Free)

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call