Applicability of shear wave elastography of the major salivary glands: values in healthy patients and effects of gender, smoking and pre-compression.

Our aim in this study was to determine normal shear wave elastography (SWE) values for the parenchyma of the major salivary glands and to evaluate the influences of gender, smoking, side and type of gland and varying amounts of ultrasound probe pressure on SWE values. Twenty-five consecutive healthy patients were examined with ultrasound. SWE velocities were measured with acoustic radiation force imaging in the hilum and central region of both glands with "normal" and very low pressure.

Evolution and changing trends in surgery for benign parotid tumors.

Objective/hypothesis: The ideal extent of surgical intervention for benign parotid tumors remains a matter of controversy. The aim of the study was to trace the development of surgical therapy in a large cohort, explore its changes in a single institution specializing in salivary gland pathologies over the last 12 years, and determine the extent to which a possible shift in the surgical therapy of parotid benign tumors toward less radical methods was correlated with a change in the incidence of facial palsy and Frey's syndrome.

Study Design: Retrospective clinical study.

Elective neck dissection vs observation in transorally treated early head and neck carcinomas with cN0 neck.

Conclusion: This study showed that elective neck dissection (ND) resulted in reduced regional recurrences in a selected group of surgically treated patients with pT1-2 carcinomas but did not show any benefit for disease-specific survival (DSS). Furthermore, the importance of pN classification was also verified for this patient group.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine whether the use of elective ND in patients with early head and neck carcinomas and cN0 neck that have undergone a transoral removal of the primary tumor can reduce the incidence of regional recurrence and improve survival.

Results of minimally invasive gland-preserving treatment in different types of parotid duct stenosis.

Objective: To assess differences in minimally invasive treatment in various types of Stensen duct stenoses, because sparse data have been published concerning this.

Design: Retrospective study.

Setting: Tertiary reference center, level of evidence: 2b.

Sialendoscopy in the diagnosis and treatment of sialolithiasis: a study on more than 1000 patients.

Objective: Sialendoscopy and other gland-preserving techniques such as extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (ESWL), transoral stone removal, and combinations of these methods have fundamentally changed the therapeutic approach to salivary stones. Since 2003, all patients presenting with sialolithiasis have been diagnosed and treated with the same algorithm and routine salivary gland endoscopy (SGE).

Study Design: Case series with chart review of patients with sialolithiasis treated between 2003 and 2008 using an algorithm for gland preservation.

Follow-up of parotid pleomorphic adenomas treated by extracapsular dissection.

Background: This study was carried out to evaluate tumor recurrence following extracapsular dissection of pleomorphic adenomas of the parotid gland.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective evaluation and clinical follow-up of the patients who underwent extracapsular dissection of a pleomorphic adenoma as primary surgery in the otolaryngologic department of the Erlangen University Clinics during the period from 2000 to 2005.

Results: In all, 601 surgical interventions on benign parotid tumors were carried out from 2000 to 2005, 219 of which were primary operations for removal of a pleomorphic adenoma.

Sonoelastography of parotid gland tumours: initial experience and identification of characteristic patterns.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate B-mode and elastographical ultrasound criteria capable of differentiating between benign and malignant parotid tumours and to define characteristic elastographical patterns for pleomorphic adenomas and Warthin's tumours.

Methods: Fifty-seven patients with parotid gland tumours were examined using a combination of B-mode and elastographic ultrasounds. The data acquired were analysed retrospectively by two experienced ultrasound operators to identify specific sonographical features of benign and malignant lesions.

Computer aided diagnosis of parotid gland lesions using ultrasonic multi-feature tissue characterization.

In this article, an ultrasound based system for computer aided characterization of biologic tissue and its application to differential diagnosis of parotid gland lesions is proposed. Aiming at an automated differentiation between malignant and benign cases, the system is based on a supervised classification using tissue-describing features derived from ultrasound radio-frequency (RF) echo signals and image data. Standard diagnostic ultrasound equipment was employed to acquire ultrasound RF echo data from parotid glands of 138 patients.

Postoperative complications after extracapsular dissection of benign parotid lesions with particular reference to facial nerve function.

Objectives/hypothesis: The desirable extent of surgical intervention for benign parotid tumors remains a matter of controversy. Superficial or total parotidectomy as a standard procedure is often said to be the gold standard; however, with it the risk of intraoperative damage to the facial nerve cannot be ignored. For some time now, extracapsular dissection without exposure of the main trunk of the facial nerve has been favored as an alternative for the treatment of discrete parotid tumors.

Diagnostic imaging in sialadenitis.

This article presents a survey of the imaging procedures in inflammatory changes of the salivary glands. State-of-the-art procedures are described along with a perspective on recent innovations. Various imaging procedures are discussed, including ultrasound, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging.

RGS protein specificity towards Gq- and Gi/o-mediated ERK 1/2 and Akt activation, in vitro.

Extracellular Regulated Kinases (ERK) and Protein Kinase B (Akt) are intermediaries in relaying extracellular growth signals to intracellular targets. Each pathway can become activated upon stimulation of G protein-coupled receptors mediated by G(q) and G(i/o) proteins subjected to regulation by RGS proteins. The goal of the study was to delineate the specificity in which cardiac RGS proteins modulate G(q)and G(i/o)-induced ERK and Akt phosphorylation.