Role of Ultrasound in the Detection of Lesions of the Parotid Gland in HIV Patients

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Salivary gland disease is common among human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients and is a major cause of morbidity among them. Hence this cross-sectional analytical study was done to assess the parotid gland changes in Human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients who were on highly active antiretroviral therapy using ultrasound. A total of 137 Human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients who were on regular therapy for more than 1.5years were randomly selected for ultrasonographic examination of the parotid gland. The various sonographic patterns of the parotid glands were noted and compared with CD4 count, viral load, and the duration of therapy. Among the study participants sixty- two patients had normal parotid findings and the other four main sonographic findings were fatty infiltration, lymphadenopathy, lymphocytic aggregates, lymphoepithelial cyst in descending order. Incidental findings were hypoechoic areas, parotid abscess and necrotic lymph nodes. On comparing CD4 count with parotid changes among the various groups, most of the subjects were in stage I (CD4 COUNT>500) with a significant p-value (P=0.006).The parotid changes when compared with the viral load it was noted that most of the subjects (79.6%) were in group II(undetectable) with a significant p-value(P=0.048). However, the p-value was found insignificant while comparing the duration of HAART and the parotid changes.Hence, ultrasound, a non-invasive imaging modality is gaining popularity by reducing the surgical intervention in both detection and diagnosis of soft tissue abnormalities of the parotid gland in asymptomatic HIV patients with no clinically evident lesions.

Publication Date

2022

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