Abstract
Objectives: To assess the cohort of patients undergoing sialendoscopic
intervention for improvement of symptoms and gland-related quality of
life at long-term follow up. Design: retrospective review of medical
records with a prospective follow-up by questionnaire. Methods: All
patients undergoing sialendoscopy between March 2008 and June 2020 were
analyzed in detail regarding indications, technical aspects and
postoperative course. To maximize follow-up, patients also received a
questionnaire by e-mail. Results: 272 sialendoscopies were performed in
221 patients. Median follow-up time was 37 months. The sialendoscopies
were performed in 130 patients for lithiasis, in 66 for stenosis, in 14
for recurrent parotitis of childhood, in 8 for recurrent sialadenitis of
unknown origin and in 3 for radio-iodine induced sialadenitis.
Complications occurred in 11 of 272 sialendoscopies (4%). Those were
iatrogenic perforations, temporary lingual nerve paresthesia and
swelling of the floor of the mouth. 53% of patients returned the
questionnaire, for a total of 146 evaluable sialendoscopies. The
majority of the responders indicated that sialendoscopy had improved
their symptoms (83.6%). Salivary glands could be preserved in 89% of
the responder group. The highest percentage of patients reporting
residual symptoms was found in the RPC group (81.3%) and the lowest in
the lithiasis group (16.2%). Besides age, no statistical differences in
demographic and pathological features between the responder and
non-responder groups were found, supporting generalization of the
responders’ results to the entire cohort. Conclusions: This study
confirms the good long-term outcomes of sialendoscopic interventions in
patients with chronic sialadenitis of different etiologies and a high
rate of gland preservation.