Diagnostic capabilities of cone-beam computed tomography with sialography

Objective. To study the possibilities of cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) with sialography in the detection and differentiation of salivary gland pathologies. Material and methods. 32 patients (6 men and 26 women) aged from 21 to 79 years with suspected salivary gland pathology took part in the study. Cone-beam computed tomography of the maxillofacial region was performed on the Galileos Comfort apparatus (Sirona Dental Sistems GmbH, Bensheim, Germany) using a contrast agent (Ultravist, 370 mg iodine/ml, Polysan, Russia). The obtained tomograms were analysed in three planes and in volumetric reconstruction. Statistical analysis was performed using Jupyter Notebook programme in Python language. Results. During the study of the use of CBCT with sialography it was possible to reveal various pathologies of salivary glands, each of which had variable degrees of severity. The diagnostic examination allowed the identification of pathologies such as chronic sialodenitis, chronic sialodochitis and chronic sialosis affecting different salivary glands. Additionally, percentile ratios were calculated which helped in determining the frequency of occurrence of these pathologies and correlation analysis was performed to assess the relationships between the various features. Conclusion. CBCT sialography is a promising tool for the diagnosis of salivary gland diseases, providing high accuracy and informativeness with minimal radiation exposure, which makes it safe for regular use in clinical practice, especially when repeated examinations are necessary. Also, an important advantage of this method is that it is suitable for both outpatient and inpatient settings, which expands its application in medical practice. The results of our study confirm the necessity of wider application of CBCT sialography in medical practice to improve the quality of diagnostics and treatment of salivary gland diseases.