Salivary glands are small organs located in the oral cavity, they are responsible for the salivation. Ultrasound of the salivary glands is a procedure that can show that in this organ or in the tissues next to it there are injuries of varying severity, neoplasms or congenital anatomical abnormalities. It allows you to diagnose dystrophic and inflammatory diseases of the salivary glands .
When it is necessary to carry out ultrasound of the salivary glands?
Ultrasound of the salivary gland can be performed separately and with a comprehensive examination of the oral cavity. Assign it in the presence of such evidence:
- a strong increase in the size of the glands;
- increased body temperature above the lesion;
- pain in the submaxillary or parotid region;
- swelling of the neck and cheekbones.
How is the ultrasound of the salivary glands?
Before the ultrasound of the salivary glands, special preparation is not required. You just need to brush your teeth and refuse to eat 4 hours before the procedure.
In the doctor's office the patient lies on his back, place the sensor of the device outside the mouth and turn his head to the right or to the left. To examine the salivary glands in the lower jaw or under the tongue, the sensor is placed in the oral cavity on the right or left side of the tongue. The procedure lasts about thirty minutes. Results to the patient are given immediately after it is completed.
In a healthy person, the salivary glands have clearly visualized even contours. Their structure must be homogeneous. When the ultrasound of the salivary submandibular gland is performed, the norm of its dimensions is 29-38 mm, and in the study of the parotid gland the norm is 40-50 mm.
The increase in size can speak of a tumor formation or inflammatory process. Quite often on ultrasound it is possible to determine even the foci of germination of formation by a multitude of blood vessels. When cysts appear, strips filled with liquid contents are visible. The development of a chronic or acute obstructive process is indicated by a significant expansion of the salivary ducts.