Obstructive pathologies of salivary glands—a clinical challenge

Abstract

The ducts of salivary glands primarily serve to transport and subsequently evacuate the saliva secreted by the salivary glands. The salivary gland duct is considered to be a complex anatomical entity. It transports serous, mucous or mixed type of saliva through its tortuous course. Parotid gland's Stenson's duct, submandibular gland's Wharton's duct, sublingual gland's ducts of Bartholin's and revenus. Out of these the Wharton's duct has the highest incidence of obstruction due to anatomical factors like a tortuous course, flow of mixed type of saliva against gravity for a short distance of 3–3.5 cm. Also the parotid duct is commonly severed in ablative surgeries of the head and neck malignancies. The aetiology, diagnosis and surgical management of these pathologies has always been a controversial and challenging situation. The present paper will discuss these issues and concentrate on the surgical management of ductal pathologies in varied clinical presentations.