Aim: To investigate the value of conventional MRI techniques combined with MR sialography on T2-3D-DRIVE in the diagnosis of Sjögren syndrome (SS).
Methods: 107 patients were divided into SS group and non-SS group. Conventional MRI techniques, such as T1WI, T2WI, and STIR images were used for changes of fat signal in the parotid gland, while the MR sialography were used for ducts dilation of the parotid gland.
Results: Among 93 SS patients, MRI identified abnormal fat deposit in the parotid glands in 86 patients. The fat signal based on MRI images showed 7 patients were in stage 0, 28 in stage 1, 14 in stage 2, 32 in stage 3 and 12 in stage 4. T2-3D-DRIVEMR MR sialography identified peripheral ducts dilation in 86 patients. The duct dilation based on MR sialography showed 7 patients in stage 0, 14 patients in stage 1, 44 patients in stage 2, 26 patients in stage 3, and 2 patients in stage 4. On MRI and MR sialography, both had a positive diagnostic rate of 92.5%. When MRI and MR sialography techniques were used together, the positive diagnostic rate increased to 96.8%. However, Kappa test showed that the MRI fat signal staging and MR sialogrpahy duct dilation staging had statistical difference (Kappa = 0.241, P = 0.000).
Conclusion: T2-3D-DRIVE MR sialography detects peripheral ducts dilation in parotid glands with unmatched spatial resolution, also MRI fat suppression techniques detect diffusive fat deposit in parotid glands with high accuracy. Combining two techniques will provide optimal diagnosis workup for SS.
Keywords: Sjögren syndrome; magnetic resonance imaging; salivary glands; sialography.