[Ultrasonography of the parotid venous plane]

The venous plane of the parotid gland is a good marker of the intraparotid facial nerve that no imaging method can display precisely. In our study, we performed conventional B-mode imaging, color Doppler and power Doppler to detect the venous plane of the parotid. Some healthy patients (one hundred forty-two) without head or neck disease were examined with color Doppler and Power Doppler sonography using a 10 Mhz transducer. Sonography detected the venous plane of the parotid gland in more than two thirds of the examined patients whatever the sonographic method we used. Color Doppler and Power Doppler actually increased the sensitivity and quality of the examination.