[Color-coded duplex sonography of the parotid gland in Sjögren's syndrome]

27 patients with confirmed Sjögren's syndrome were examined prospectively by means of colour coded duplex sonography and pulsed Doppler sonography in order to determine blood flow in the parotid gland in this condition. Organ perfusion was divided semi-quantitatively into 4 groups: grade 0 (no intraglandular perfusion recognised) to grade 3 (numerous intra-glandular flow signals). Low perfusion values (grade 0 or grade 1) were found in normals and this was also observed in 13 patients (48%). 6 patients (22%) showed moderate increase (grade 2), and 8 patients (30%) showed gross increase (grade 3) in glandular perfusion. The increase in perfusion correlated with the severity of the sono-morphological glandular changes, such as reduced echogenicity, increased size and heterogeneous structure. Increased perfusion was associated with intra-glandular flow velocity as measured by Doppler sonography; maximal systolic flow velocity was significantly higher in patients with markedly increased perfusion than in normals.