Pediatric sialendoscopy: a 5-year experience at a single institution.

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the outcome of our experience in the treatment of salivary gland disorders in children undergoing sialendoscopy and to assess the evolution of the technique. DESIGN Retrospective medical record review. SETTING Tertiary care university hospital. PATIENTS Thirty-eight children with salivary gland disorders undergoing diagnostic and interventional sialendoscopy between January 1, 2003, and November 30, 2008. INTERVENTION Diagnostic and interventional sialendoscopy using general anesthesia. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Demographic, clinical, and surgical variables, including age, sex, date of first symptoms, parotid or submandibular location of disease, preoperative ultrasonographic results, sialendoscopy technique, sialendoscopy observations, and complications. RESULTS Pediatric sialendoscopy was performed on the parotid gland in 23 patients (61%) and on the submandibular gland in 15 patients (39%). The most frequent indication for sialendoscopy was recurrent salivary gland swelling. Thirty-two of 38 procedures (84%) were performed endoscopically, whereas a combined intervention was necessary for 3 patients and a submandibular gland excision for another 3 patients. Sialendoscopy allowed the diagnosis of 12 patients with salivary duct lithiasis, 21 with salivary duct stenosis, and 2 with both submandibular lithiasis and stenosis, and findings from 3 sialendoscopies were normal. Preoperative ultrasonographic results were confirmed by sialendoscopy in only 7 patients. Of the 10 patients with lithiasis found using sialendoscopy, only 4 had been detected using preoperative ultrasonography. CONCLUSIONS Sialendoscopy is a pertinent technique for the diagnosis and treatment of salivary gland disorders in children. It also allows the most conservative treatment of sialolithiasis and juvenile recurrent parotitis.