Surgical Treatment of Sialolithiasis Leads to Improvement in the Complete Blood Count

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Sialolithiasis is a disease in which inflammation and infection are caused in a salivary gland and its duct secretion system due to a formation of a sialolith (salivary stone) in the gland. Anemia of inflammation is a well described pathology where chronic inflammation causes a reduction in the red blood cell count is. In this study, we examined the complete blood count results of patients who underwent surgical removal of a sialolith and found that removal of the stone and cessation of the symptoms lead to an improvement in the complete blood count results. We believe that the improvement in blood count values after surgery is due to resolution of the anemia of inflammation. To our knowledge, this is the first report about the relationship between surgery for removal of a salivary stone and improvement in the wellbeing of patient expressed by blood count values. ABSTRACT: Sialolithiasis is a chronic disease in which a sialolith (salivary stone) causes recurrent inflammation of the affected salivary gland. Anemia of inflammation is a well-described pathology in which a chronic inflammatory disease leads to a reduction in the red blood cell count, hemoglobin and hematocrit values. In this retrospective cohort study, we aim to find whether removal of the sialolith and alleviation of the inflammation affect the complete blood count results. We examined data regarding forty-nine patients who underwent surgery for the removal of a submandibular gland sialolith using the duct-stretching technique. Complete blood counts two years before and after the surgical procedure were collected. The average pre-procedure and post-procedure values were calculated for each patient to establish the average blood profile. The pre- and post-procedure values were compared to evaluate the effect of the surgical treatment on the blood profile. We found that the average blood count values for patients with sialolithiasis were towards the lower end of the normal range. Post-surgery, a significant increase in hematocrit, hemoglobin and red blood cell count was observed, which was more pronounced in the older age group and in patients with co-morbidities. We conclude that sialolith removal surgery is associated with significant improvement in the complete blood count values, especially in the elderly and in patients and with co-morbidities. The speculated pathogenesis is relative anemia of inflammation.