Abstract
From the point of view of pathogenesis, 3 cases of sialodochitis fibrinosa were studied. The histopathological changes in the salivary glands examined were characterized by such findings as 1)mucous plug with a mixture of many eosinophils, a few neutrophils and desquamated epithelial cells in the ductal lumens, 2) marked thickings of the epithelial layers of the ductal walls, and 3)edema and hyalinization of the connective tissues, marked eosinophilia and a formation of lymph follicles in the periductal interstitial tissues. The smaller the ducts were, the slighter the above changes became.
From the above-mentioned observations, it was presumed that1) an involvement first occured in the main duct and then extended in the smaller ducts, 2)a stimulus extended from the surface of the ductal walls to the periductal interstitial tissues, and 3)this disease was presumably of allergic origin, although the evidence of allergy was obtained only from the microscopic examination of plug in the duct and sections of the salivary glands, but not from the examinations in history, blood and skin with test allergen extract in the present cases.
The plug which was specific in the duct of sialodochitis fibrinosa cases, was also observed in 3 cases of sialolithiasis suggesting a relation between these two diseases.
