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Sonographic and Cytological Evaluation of Salivary Gland Tumors

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Indian Journal of Otolaryngology and Head & Neck Surgery Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Introduction: Salivary gland tumours are relatively uncommon, but they have a multifaceted clinical presentation and varied morphological configuration. The investigations required for these tumours remain debatable. We conducted a study to determine the accuracy of various modalities used in salivary gland tumours. Methods: We enrolled 72 subjects, consisting of 44 females and 28 males, with a mean age of 40.93 ± 16.51 years (range: 15 to 79 years), suffering from various salivary gland tumours. The tumour distribution included 42 parotid gland tumours (58.33%), followed by 21 submandibular gland tumours (29.16%), three sublingual gland tumours (4.16%), and six minor salivary gland tumours (8.33%). These individuals were subjected to clinical examination, sonography, and fine needle aspiration cytology as per indications. The results of each modality were compared to surgical pathology to find sensitivity and accuracy. Results: The clinical examination was found to be least sensitive (83.8%) as compared to FNAC (97.6%), and ultrasound (100%). Ultrasound had the highest diagnostic accuracy (86.2%) as compared to clinical examination (80.6%) and FNAC (82.6%). Conclusion: Although sonography was found to have the highest sensitivity and accuracy as compared to fine needle aspiration cytology and clinical examination, the difference was subtle, as both sonography and fine needle aspiration cytology had a statistically significant correlation with histopathology.

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Data Availability

The data that support the findings of this study is available on reasonable request from KG. OR the corresponding author.

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Authors

Contributions

KG, RKZ and JST: Conception, Methodology, data collection and analysis, draft and final approval. SK and AG: Methodology, Critical review and final approval. All authors approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jagdeep S Thakur.

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Statement of Ethics

Study approval statement: This study protocol was reviewed and approved by Institutional Ethical committee IGMC, Shimla with approval number HFW(MC- II)B(12)ETHICS/2021/363 dated 07th Jan 2022.

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A written informed consent was obtained from participants (or their parent/legal guardian/next of kin) to participate in the study.

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Garg, K., Kapila, S., Gulati, A. et al. Sonographic and Cytological Evaluation of Salivary Gland Tumors. Indian J Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 75, 3427–3431 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12070-023-04020-9

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