Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 5, 2026
Standardization of Basket Use in Sialendoscopy: A Ten-Year Retrospective Study
Published on: June 6, 2025
Sialoendoscopy: prognostic factors for endoscopic removal of salivary stones
Jan Christoffer Luers1, Maria Grosheva, Markus Stenner
1Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University of Cologne, 50924 Cologne, Germany. jan-christoffer.lueers@uk-koeln.de
Objective:
To detect prognostic factors for successful sialoendoscopic removal of salivary stones.
Design:
Retrospective case series.
Setting:
Tertiary referral hospital.
Patients:
Forty-nine consecutive patients who underwent sialoendoscopy for sialolithiasis between January 1, 2008, and January 1, 2010, at University Hospital of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
Interventions:
Diagnostic and interventional sialoendoscopy using local anesthesia.
Main Outcome Measures:
Stone removal rate, size, mobility, shape, and location, as well as clinical follow-up data.
Results:
Sixty-one percent (39 of 64) of all salivary stones were removed endoscopically. The cutoff point for endoscopic removal was between 5 and 6 mm in stone diameter. Small size, good mobility, round or oval, and distal location of a salivary stone were positive prognostic factors for sialoendoscopic removal, with sialolith mobility having the greatest effect in multivariate analysis.
Conclusion:
Small size, good mobility, round or oval, and distal location of a salivary stone in the main duct predict significantly greater probability of endoscopic removal and consequently are positive prognostic factors.
