Sialendoscopy under local anaesthesia

Abstract

Conclusions: In most cases, both diagnostic and interventional sialendoscopy are well tolerated under local anaesthesia (LA) or under local anaesthesia with sedation (LAS), with reasonably low patient-reported discomfort. Sialendoscopy can be considered a patient-friendly and relatively painless, gland-preserving, minimally invasive procedure suitable for day surgery.

Objective: To investigate patient experience and compliance in sialendoscopy under LA/LAS.

Methods: This prospective study was conducted at an academic tertiary-care university hospital. During a period of 22 months, 89 patients between ages 16–81 years underwent diagnostic or interventional sialendoscopy under LA (20%) or LAS (80%). After the operation the patients filled in a questionnaire formulated by the authors concerning their procedure-related experiences. Patients’ demographic data, ASA status score, pre- and intra-operative blood pressure and heart rate measurements, affected gland, operation time, intervention type, as well as pre-, peri-, and postoperative medication were gathered later from the medical records.

Results: The level of discomfort and pain experienced during the operation was assessed as ‘mild’ or ‘none’ by 85% and 89% of the patients, respectively. The level of pain experienced after the operation was ‘major’ in 4% of patients and ‘mild’ or ‘none’ in the majority (87%) of patients. The patients’ estimations showed no significant difference between the diagnostic and interventional procedures, although it seems that patients who underwent stone removal by transoral incision experienced the operation as a bit more uncomfortable and painful than other patients. Afterwards 97% of patients stated that they would agree to a new LA/LAS sialendoscopy in the future if needed.

Keywords:

• Sialendoscopy
• local anaesthesia
• submandibular gland
• parotid gland
• sialolith
• obstructive sialadenitis
• questionnaire

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Funding

This study was supported by the Helsinki University Hospital Research Fund.