Abstract：Objective: To study the trend of pathological changes of the parotid duct in Sjogren’s syndrome(SS) examined by parotid sialography. Materials and Methods: Parotid sialography was performed in 87 patients with SS. The abnormal changes of parotid duct were analysed. Results: Lesion can occur in any grade of the branches of the parotid duct, the incidence of abnormal changes was highest in the terminal ductules. The lesion has a tendency to develop from the terminal ductules to the main ducts. The early-stage pathological changes became small in proportion as the diseased prolonged, and vice verse in the mid-stage and late-stage of the disease. There were no difference in the appearance of parotid sialography in the <60 and the ≥60 age group. Conclusions: The pathological changes of the parotid duct in SS could be divided into 6 stages, ie, normal appearance of parotid duct, early stage of pathological changes of terminal ductules, late stage of pathological changes of terminal ductules, pathological changes of parotid trunk and branches of parotid duct, early-stage of gland atrophy, late-stage of gland atrophy. The pathological changes of the parotid duct with SS has coherence in broad sense and has no coherence in narrow sense. The age changes of parotid gland could be ignored in the diagnosis of SS.
2006, Vol. 17 
