Chronic Parotid Sialadenitis with Sialectasis: Diagnosis of Case through CT Sialography

Sialadenitis is an inflammation of the salivary glands commonly affecting the parotid gland. It may be subdivided into acute, chronic and recurrent forms. Inflammatory changes in the ducts of the salivary glands are referred to as sialadenitis. Salivary gland examination plays an important role in oral diagnosis as most of the systemic diseases involve salivary glands. Sialography is one of the oldest imaging procedures, as it is a simple chair side procedure, easy to perform and cost worthy. The symptoms of chronic sialadenitis include intermittent, often painful, unilateral parotid swelling that may or may not be associated with eating. Intra-oral examination shows pus emanating from the Stenson’s duct orifice by gently massaging the gland. Sialectasis is the sialographic appearance of dots or blobs of contrast medium within the gland caused by inflammation of the glandular tissue producing saccular dilatation of the acini. We here report a case of chronic parotid sialadenitis and role of sialography through computed tomography as an adjuvant in the diagnosis of sialectasis and also as a diagnostic and therapeutic aid. Glandular lavage was performed after 1 week with 60 ml of normal saline and ductal dilatation with saline pressure which helped to clear the mucus plug that formed in acute phase.