Bubbling Parotitis

Deepti Sinha1,3, Jacqueline Brown2 and Kathleen Fan1*

1Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, King’s College Hospital, UK
2Department of Oral Radiology, Guys’ Hospital, UK
3Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, OMFS-IMPATH Research Group, Katholiek University, Belgium

^*Correspondance to: Kathleen Fan 

 PDF  Full Text DOI: 10.25107/2474-1647.2812

Abstract

Acute bilateral parotitis is a rare presentation in adults. Most often the underlying pathology is systemic unless exposure to a viral epidemic is confirmed. We report an unusual case of a 50-year-old female patient presenting to our department with intermittent bilateral parotid swelling of unknown origin. Clinical findings included apyrexia, bilateral non-tender facial swelling. Bimanual palpation of the Stenson’s duct revealed expulsion of air bubbles via the duct orifice. Ultrasound examination confirmed the presence of hyperechoic structures suggestive of air bubbles within the duct and the surrounding salivary gland tissue. Pneumoparotitis is a rare cause of parotid gland swelling and is most commonly thought to occur when air is forced through the parotid duct from a pressurized oral cavity. It can present as a unilateral or bilateral swelling, is usually non-tender and almost often resolves spontaneously. It is commonly seen in wind instrument players, glass blowers and scuba divers. Although rare recurrent pneumoparotitis can predispose to sialectasis, recurrent parotitis and subcutaneous emphysema tracking to the neck, mediastinum and potentially pneumothorax. Diagnosis is based mainly on history, but is often missed. The objective of this abstract is to draw the attention of the clinician towards a rare but entirely benign cause for bilateral parotid swelling in adults.

Keywords

Cite the article

Sinha D, Brown J, Fan K. Bubbling Parotitis. Clin Surg. 2020; 5: 2812..