SUMUM surgeon uses sialoendoscopy to treat salivary gland disorders

Bhubaneswar: Employing Sialoendoscopy, a minimally invasive procedure to diagnose and treat salivary gland disorders, 27 stones from the submandibular duct of a young male patient were removed at the SUM Ultimate Medicare (SUMUM) recently.
The procedure involves an extremely small endoscope measuring 1.3 mm which is introduced into the salivary gland duct to directly address the cause of obstruction, Dr. Radhamadhab Sahu, Senior Consultant of ENT and Skull Base Surgery at the hospital who conducted the surgery, said.
The gland became functional again after the procedure was done, he said.
SUMUM was the first hospital to introduce Sialoendoscopy in August 2021 for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes for many conditions of the salivary gland like strictures, stones and other obstructive pathologies, he said.
Dr. Sahu said in many centres it is a routine practice to remove the entire salivary gland when stones are found in it leaving a visible scar on the neck of the patient. After this technique was introduced in SUMUM, many patients of all age groups have benefitted and it has been possible to preserve the salivary gland, he said.
Within a span of two years, SUMUM has become the hub for Sialoendoscopy attracting patients from across eastern India and from other countries, Dr. Sahu said adding many NRI patients from UAE, New Zealand, Nigeria and Oman had already visited the hospital to get this procedure done.
Sialoendoscopy is a promising new method used for diagnosis, treatment and post operative management of sialadenitis, sialothiasis and other obstructive salivary gland diseases, Dr. Sahu said.
Providing details about the patient on whom the latest procedure was done, he said the young person had come to the hospital with complaint of recurrent swelling of the left submandibular gland. His main complaint was whenever he took spicy food, he would feel a painless lump in the submandibular gland area in the neck which would disappear within a few hours. He was diagnosed with multiple stones in the submandibular duct and 27 stones were retrieved using laser Dormia basket by Sialoendoscopy.