Evaluation of major salivary glands in patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus via ultrasonography

The aim of this thesis is to evaluate the dimensional measurements, echogenicity and fractal dimension (FD) of bilateral parotid, submandibular and sublingual salivary glands in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) on ultrasonography (US) images and compare them with healthy individuals. US images of 36 type 2 DM and 36 healthy individuals were included in the study. The superoinferior, anteroposterior and mediolateral dimensions of the salivary glands were measured, echogenicity was classified, and FD was calculated on US images. Descriptive statistics of the measurements were calculated. Comparisons of FD and dimensional measurements between groups were analyzed with independent samples t test. Echogenicity were analyzed with Mcnemar and Pearson chi-square tests. Statistical significance level was accepted as p ≤ 0.05. In parotid, submandibular and sublingual glands, superoinferior, anteroposterior and mediolateral dimensions were found statistically higher in the patient group than the control group (p ≤ 0.05). In terms of echogenicity, in the parotid gland isoechoic type was significantly more common in the patient group (p ≤ 0.05). Although no statistically significant relationship was observed, in the submandibular and sublingual glands isoechoic type was more frequent in the patient group, and for all glands hyperechoic type was seen more in the control group. FD values were found to be higher in the patient group compared to the control group for all glands and statistically significant relationship was observed in the sublingual gland (p ≤ 0.05). Type 2 DM causes changes in the size, echogenicity and parenchyma of the major salivary glands.