Ultrasound elastography in assessment of salivary glands involvement in primary Sjögren's syndrome

Abstract Objective Our study aimed to assess the pathological sonoelastographic changes in the major salivary glands and to demonstrate the diagnostic effectiveness of Sonoelastography as an additional method to US in Sjogren's syndrome. Methods Fifty eight patients with primary Sjogren's syndrome (pSS) were selected according to the American-European Consensus Group Classification criteria. Twenty five healthy volunteers involved in this study. All patients were evaluated with B-mode and elastography by using Hitachi EUB 7500 digital ultrasound equipment. All subjects were female. The sonoelastography examination, which allowed us to assess the elasticity of the parenchyma, was performed and strain ratios were measured by comparing with the adjacent tissues. Results Statistically significant differences were found between the pSS and control groups for the elastographic scores and strain ratios ( p p  > 0.05). Conclusion US examination is an efficient method to assess major salivary gland involvement in the diagnosis of pSS. Sonoelastography is a modality which can contribute to the diagnosis by improving specificity in the differential diagnosis of pSS. Strain ratio measurement, which is a semi-quantitative method, increases the diagnostic effectiveness by providing high sensitivity, specificity, and negative predictive values.