Assessment of the hardness of salivary gland lesions in patients with Sjögren′s syndrome by real-time shear wave elastography

Abstract

Objective To investigate the clinical value of the real-time shear wave elastography(RT-SWE) in the assessment of salivary gland lesions by measuring the hardness of parotid gland and submaxillary gland in patients with Sjogren′s syndrome (SS). Methods Forty patients with SS were chosen as SS group, and 35 age and gender matched healthy volunteers were chosen as control group. The patients were divided into mild SS group (n=18) and severe SS group (n=22) according to the decrease of uptake and secretion of salivary gland in Salivary gland scintigraphy. The Supersonic AixPlorer real-time quantitative diagnostic shear wave elastography was used to detect the parotid gland and submaxillary gland in 35 healthy volunteers and 40 patients. The RT-SWE elasticity indices of mean (Emean) was obtained and draw the SWE technology in the diagnosis of mild and severe SS patients with parotid and submandibular glands of the ROC curves. Results ①There was no significant difference in the Emean of left and right glands among the three groups (all P>0.05). The Emean of parotid gland and submaxillary gland in patients with SS was higher than that in control group, especially in the severe SS group (all P<0.05). ②The cutoff value, sensitivity, specificity and the area under ROC for Emean with SWE diagnosing the parotid gland lesions of mild SS were 7.75 kPa, 94.4%, 97.1% and 0.998, and those in severe SS were 10.65 kPa, 90.9%, 97.1% and 0.999, respectively. The cutoff value, sensitivity, specificity and the area under ROC for Emean with SWE diagnosing the the submaxillary glands lesions of mild SS were 8.15 kPa, 100%, 91.4% and 0.998, and those in severe SS were 10.40 kPa, 95.5%, 88.6%and 0.994, respectively. Conclusions RT-SWE can be successfully applied to assess parotid gland and submaxillary gland′s hardness in patients with SS, and provide a new method for the clinical evaluation of salivary gland diffuse lesions. Key words: Shear wave elastography; Sjogren syndrome; Elastic Modulus; Parotid gland; Submaxillary gland