Imaging, clinical and pathological features of salivary gland adenolymphoma.

OBJECTIVE Adenolymphoma (Warthin's tumor) is a common salivary gland benign tumors with poor diagnosis and ranking second after the parotid tumors. Presently, a rising tendency of the incidence of adenolymphoma has been noted. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical, pathological and imaging features of this tumor. PATIENTS AND METHODS 24 cases of confirmed adenolymphoma were retrospectively analyzed with clinical features, pathological data and CT imaging. RESULTS Among 24 cases, 22 (91.7%) patients were male, two patients were female, 23 (95.8%) patients were more than 50 years old; 38 lesions were found in 24 patients including isolated lesions in 16 patients (66.7%), and multiple lesions in 8 patients (33.3%). 81.6% adenolymphoma lesions (31/38) were located in the posterior and inferior quadrant. The shapes of lesions were more oval or round, well-circumscribed, homogeneous (n=26) or inhomogeneous (n=12) with high density. 27 lesions were demonstrated with enhancement after contrast enhancement and 10 lesions showed small vessels penetrating through or surrounding the mass. CONCLUSIONS Adenolymphoma of the parotid (Warthin tumor) should be first considered by the clinical data including age, gender, location and imaging manifestations of the lesions.