Radiographic findings of space-occupying lesions in sialo-CBCT of the major salivary glands

Objectives: When performing CBCT sialography (sialo-CBCT), space-occupying lesions may be identified incidentally. The objective was to describe their radiologic-clinical-histopathologic correlations.
Method and materials: The archive of sialo-CBCT scans was retrospectively searched for suspected space-occupying lesions. Based on the scan and clinical-histopathologic data, the cases were divided into “pathologic” vs “normal,” “intra-parenchymal” vs “extra-parenchymal,” and “benign” vs “malignant.” Two precalibrated, blinded radiologists performed a survey of the radiographic features of each scan. Cohen kappa, chi-square, Kruskal–Wallis, and Mann–Whitney tests assessed inter-observer agreement and radiologic-clinical-histopathologic correlations.
Results: In total, 27 (1.5%) suspected space-occupying lesions were found in 1,758 reports. Full follow-up data were available for 15 cases: four were “malignant,” six were “benign,” and the remaining five were “normal.” Kappa showed substantial inter-observer agreement (0.8 to 1.0). Constant swelling correlated with “pathologic” cases (P = .003). Lesion diameter was greater in “pathologic” than “normal” (P < .001) cases, with a cut-off of 12.6 mm. Clinical and radiographic features were similar in “benign” and “malignant” lesions. “Intra-parenchymal” and “extra-parenchymal” space-occupying lesions correlated with “no-fill-region” (P = .01) and “main-duct-displacement” (P = .002), respectively.
Conclusions: Suspected space-occupying lesions in sialo-CBCT with a diameter greater than 12.6 mm are likely to be “pathologic.” No radiographic features were able to differentiate between “malignant” and “benign” space-occupying lesions.