[Current aspects in ultrasonography of the salivary glands]

Ultrasonography is a basic diagnostic tool in all diseases of the salivary glands. Due to their relatively superficial anatomic location, distinct borders and homogenous echotexture, the salivary glands are ideally positioned for sonographic assessment. The advantages of this technique include its high diagnostic accuracy, non-invasiveness, lack of radiation exposure, as well as high reproducibility and low costs. Progress in ultrasound equipment and ultrasound transducers in recent years, i.e. colour-coded Doppler sonography with and without contrast enhancers, tissue harmonic imaging and elastography have widened the spectrum of indications and diagnostic accuracy. Although unspecific, many diseases of the salivary glands have particular sonographic characteristics. In addition, ultrasound-guided fine-needle biopsy is able to obtain material for cytological analysis in a targeted fashion under visual control. Compared to other imaging techniques such as CT and MRI, ultrasound achieves the highest sensitivity in the identification of neoplasms in the salivary glands.