Population Based Average Parotid Gland Volume and Prevalence of Incidental Tumors in T1-MRI

Tina Brzoska; Till Ittermann; Friedrich Ihler; Carmela Koch; Markus Blaurock; Robin Bülow; Henry Völzke; Chia-Jung Busch; Achim Georg Beule

doi:10.3390/healthcare10112310

Population Based Average Parotid Gland Volume and Prevalence of Incidental Tumors in T1-MRI

Healthcare (Basel). 2022 Nov 18;10(11):2310. doi: 10.3390/healthcare10112310.

Authors

Tina Brzoska¹, Till Ittermann², Friedrich Ihler¹, Carmela Koch¹, Markus Blaurock¹, Robin Bülow³, Henry Völzke², Chia-Jung Busch¹, Achim Georg Beule^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University Medicine Greifswald, 17475 Greifswald, Germany.
² Institute for Community Medicine, University Medicine Greifswald, 17475 Greifswald, Germany.
³ Institute of Diagnostic Radiology and Neuroradiology, University Medicine Greifswald, 17475 Greifswald, Germany.
⁴ Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University Medicine Münster, 48149 Münster, Germany.

Abstract

Representative epidemiologic data on the average volume of the parotid gland in a large population-based MRI survey is non-existent. Within the Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP), we examined the parotid gland in 1725 non-contrast MRI-scans in T1 weighted sequence of axial layers. Thus, a reliable standard operating procedure (Intraclass Correlation Coefficient > 0.8) could be established. In this study, we found an average, single sided parotid gland volume of 27.82 cm3 (95% confidence interval (CI) 27.15 to 28.50) in male and 21.60 cm3 (95% CI 21.16 to 22.05) in female subjects. We observed positive associations for age, body mass index (BMI), as well as male sex with parotid gland size in a multivariate model. The prevalence of incidental tumors within the parotid gland regardless of dignity was 3.94% in the Northeast German population, slightly higher than assumed. Further epidemiologic investigations regarding primary salivary gland diseases are necessary.

Keywords: parotid gland tumors; population-based imaging; salivary gland volume; whole-body magnetic resonance imaging.

Grants and funding

This particular research received no external funding. In general, the Community Medicine Research Net of the University Medicine Greifswald, Germany, is financed by the Federal Ministry of Education, (funding no. 01ZZ9603, 01ZZ0103, and 01ZZ0403), as well as by the corresponding ministries of the federal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The SHIP-MRI study presented here in the two cohorts SHIP-START and SHIP-TREND was made possible by a joint grant from Siemens (Erlangen, Germany), and the federal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.