Shear wave elastography as a new method to identify parotid lymphoma in primary Sj ögren Syndrome patients: an observational study

AbstractParotid non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) in primary Sj ögren syndrome (pSS) has no specific biomarker for diagnosis. Salivary glands ultrasound (US) is largely used, but its contribution in detecting parotid NHL has not been established. The aim of our study was to determine the added value of bidimensional shear wave elastography (2D-SWE) in pSS diagn osis and to determine its accuracy in identifying parotid NHL. Grey-scale US (GSUS) and 2D-SWE of salivary glands were performed in 35 patients with pSS and 35 healthy controls. The GSUS scores were calculated and the mean of three SWE consecutive measurements was used to appreciate the gland stiffn ess. SWE increase the diagnostic rate at a cut-off of 6.45 kPa (from 88.6 to 94.2%,p <  0.001) only if applied in patients with insufficient GSUS criteria for pSS diagnosis. The parotid glands with NHL (8 patients, all mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue type) had hyperechoic bands in more than half of the glandular parenchyma (in 68.75% of the glands), large hypoechoic area >  20 mm (all glands), traced gland area over 5 cm2 (all glands), parotid US score greater than 13 (in 68.75% of the glands), and high stiffness (elasticity modulus 13.9  ± 4.08 vs 6.32 ± 2.24) (allp <  0.001). These findings give high sensitivity (92.3%), specificity (100%), and positive (100%) and negative predictive values (98.3%) for NHL identification. The rest of GSUS findings did not correlate with the classic risk facto...
Source: Rheumatology International - Category: Rheumatology Source Type: research