To establish a qualitative diagnosis of submandibular gland disease, internal echo levels of 97 submandibular glands were measured under constant conditions by ultrasonography, and the influence of aging, fibrous changes, and adipose tissue content were investigated.
Although there were no sex-related differences in the internal echo levels of 88 healthy glands, there was a trend toward an increased internal echo level with aging.
Histopathologically, 20 glands required extirpation for treatment, and the adipose tissue ratio in these glands was measured.
In 11 glands without fibrous changes, the adipose tissue ratio correlated with the internal echo level. In 9 glands with fibrous changes, there was no correlation between these variables, and the average internal echo level was significantly lower than that of the glands without fibrous changes (P<0.01).
Our results suggest that measurement of internal echo levels may be useful for the qualitative diagnosis of submandibular glands.