The role of salivary gland scintigraphy in detection of salivary gland dysfunction in type 2 diabetic patients

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to evaluate the salivary gland dysfunction in a patient with uncontrolled type 2 diabetes using salivary gland scintigraphy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: patients included in the study were 32 uncontrolled type 2 diabetic and 30 normal healthy individuals. Patients having any other systemic(or) nervous illness(or) taking medications that could affect the normal functioning of the salivary gland were excluded from the study. The salivary gland scintigraphy was performed, with radioactivity measured at 1(st), 20(th), and 40(th) minutes. Twenty minutes after the injection, vitamin C chewable tablet was given to stimulate the secretion and continued until the end of the study period (40min). The data were replayed and regions of interest were chosen over four salivary glands to obtain the uptake ratio (UR) and excretory ratio(ER) of the salivary glands. Result: The scintigraphic total URand ER in diabetic and control groups was compared. The values in these two categories showed decrease in both UR and ER in diabetic patients, when compared to control patients. CONCLUSION AND SIGNIFICANCE: The result of this study suggests that salivary gland scintigraphy plays a significant role in the evaluation of salivary gland dysfunction in type 2 diabetic patients.