Salivary calculi and chronic sialoadenitis of the submandibular gland: a radiographic and histologic study.

This study correlated radiographic observations and histologic findings of submandibular glands with the diagnosis of salivary calculus and/or chronic sialoadenitis. During a 15-year period eighty-eight patients satisfied clinical requirements by having a radiographic examination performed prior to gland extirpation. Salivary calculi were present in 83% of the patients. The diagnostic accuracy of radiographs regarding salivary calculi in the submandibular gland system was 92%. Radiolucent calculi constituted 20% of the total number of cases with concrements. Failure to disclose concrements was caused by lack of contrast filling due to a damaged gland which presumably camouflaged radiolucent concretions. Ductal changes observed in sialograms corresponded to histologic changes in the glandular parenchyma in 96% of the cases. The absence of ductal change in sialograms did not necessarily indicate a nondiseased gland.