Adult parotitis exhibits various appearances on images. The purpose of this study was to investigate the imaging features of adult parotitis, focusing on the inflammatory spread in and around the parotid gland on CT images. We investigated 21 patients who were clinically and radiologically diagnosed with parotitis, including patients with concomitant occurrences of sialolith or Sjören's syndrome. Intra-glandular spread was divided into 13 diffuse types and 8 focal types. There was a significant difference in duration from the first onset of symptoms between the diffuse and focal types. Six of 8 patients showing focal type spread were associated with the concomitant occurrence of sialolith or Sjören's syndrome. Extra-glandular spread was observed in 13 (62%) patients. Of them, 12 (92%) showed subcutaneous fat tissue and/or masticator space involvement. Involvement of the parapharyngeal space and the superficial area just below the gland was observed in 4 and 7 patients, respectively. The appearance of extra-glandular spread was influenced by intra-glandular appearance and concomitant disease. The spread of adult parotitis possessed characteristic features in relation to clinical findings and concomitant disease. CT examination appeared to be effective for these diagnoses.

Ultrasonography may provide some information as to the tissue characteristics of tumorous lesions in the floor of the mouth, which have not been sufficiently clarified. Ultrasonographic imaging characteristics of these lesions are presented and the differential diagnoses are discussed. Ultrasonographic images of 5 patients with metastatic lingual lymph nodes (squamous cell carcinoma), lymphangioma, Schwannoma, ranula and dermoid cyst are presented. The literature on the imaging features of tumorous lesions in the floor of the mouth was searched using Medline. Five cases of tumorous lesions in the floor of the mouth are presented. The differential diagnosis through a review of the references was discussed. Ultrasonographic images clearly showed the internal structures of the mass. The homogeneity varied according to the degree of closeness of the cells and tissues, or the presence of fluid, hemorrhage, cystic degeneration and calculus. The echogenicity was due to the high acoustic impedance of calculus, cholesterol, and so on. The imaging features varied according to the ratio of the tissues, such as fat and fibrous tissue (in lipoma), or cholesterol and keratin (in dermoid cyst). A high vascular mass indicated malignant salivary gland tumors and hemangioma. In conclusion, ultrasonographic images revealed the distinctive features of the lesions and were useful for the differential diagnosis. Therefore, ultrasonography could be used to conjecture the content of the lesions and is considered to be useful for easy and accurate diagnosis prior to treatment.

  The Association of Radiologists under the umbrella of the Hokkaido Prefectural Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives for Health and Welfare (Hokkaido Koseiren) set up in 2003 a committee with the aim of improving the accuracy of mass health examinations. Recently, the committee reviewed the results of abdominal examinations by sonography performed at the eight hospitals affiliated with the Koseiren during fiscal 2006 that ended March 31, 2007. Of those individuals who underwent thorough health checkups, 91.3% had their abdomen examined by ultrasound. Something anomalous was detected in 68.1% of the examinees and 4.5% needed to undergo closer checkups, the rate of response to which was 74.5%. The detection ratio of cancer by ultrasonography was worked out at 0.048%. The ratio of patients requiring a closer exam to the total and the cancer detection ratio varied widely from hospital to hospital. The wide dispersion was ascribable to the difference in the standard of judgment for indicating closer examinations and the difference in the number of examinees so far as the cancer detection ratio was concerned, from hospital to hospital. A look at the primary findings of anomalies revealed that fatty liver topped the list accounting for 27.4% followed by cholelithiasis with 3.6%. From this, we realized that the abdominal examinations by sonography served to detect cancer and lifestyle-induced health problems as well. Organ-wise, the cancer cases found during the period from 1998 to 2009 broke down as follows: kidney (79 cases), liver (40 cases), pancreas (30 cases), gall bladder (24 cases), others (8 cases) and spleen (none). The cancer detection ratio per year ranged from 0.03 to 0.05% during the period.