This study attempted to establish the intraglandular degenerative diagnosis for tissue characterization using quantitative analysis of the normal submandibular gland in ultrasonography. B-mode ultrasonic images of the submandibular gland in 69 healthy volunteers were analyzed to find quantitative diagnostic indices in the internal architecture of the normal submandibular gland without invasive methods.
We used texture analysis of the amplitude histogram in the region of interest (ROT) set on the images. The value of mean, skewness and kurtosis as parameters of the histogram were calculated, assuming the bilateral submandibular gland to be scanned by the same technique.
No significant difference was observed between males and females in each parameter. The right glands correlated very well with the left glands in all of the parameters. The proportional value of mean echo intensity showed a tendency to increase linearly with successive groups of age. Skewness and kurtosis indicated a fall of linear regression with age.
Using the indices, ten patients diagnosed with sialolithiasis of the unilateral submandibular gland were assessed for diagnosis. As the difference in laterality between right and left submandibular gland of skewness and kurtosis in sialolithiasis had a higher value than that in the normal gland, it offered diagnostic possibility from tissue characterization.
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