[Extracorporeal lithotripsy in the treatment of salivary lithiasis. A prospective study apropos of 27 cases]. / La lithotripsie extra-corporelle dans le traitement de la lithiase salivaire. Une étude prospective à propos de 27 cas.

In a prospective study, we evaluated the efficacy of extracorporeal lithotripsy (ECL) in the treatment of salivary stones. We define the indications for the treatment of submaxillary and parotid stones, depending on the diameter and the location of the stone. Twenty-seven patients were treated by ECL. All had a unique stone, in the salivary duct, with a diameter greater than 2 mm; the site was the parotid gland for ten cases, the submaxillary gland for seventeen cases. After six months, the results from a clinical and ultrasonography point of view, were the following: total efficacy or complete desintegration of the stone: 9 cases; partial efficacy or fragmentation of the calculi, with residual fragments with a diameter of less than 2 mm, which could be flushed out with possible spontaneous clearance: 10 cases; failure or the lack of the reduction in the size of the stone or partial fragmentation into concrements with a diameter of more than 2 mm: 8 cases. Based on our experience and the results reported in the medical literature, we propose an therapeutic approach to symptomatic salivary stones. ECL is the most preferable treatment for stones of the parotid duct or parotid gland. The treatment of stones of the submaxillary gland depends on the site and the size of the calculi; ECL should be proposed as first-line treatment when the stone diameter ranges from 2 to 10 mm and when it is situated in the pelvis of the duct or in the proximal duct; surgical resection of the submandibular gland is indicated when the stone is situated in the gland itself or when the diameter is more than 10 mm; when it is situated in the distal duct, a marsupialization should be performed.

Anatomic study of the lumbar region applied to multiplanar imaging techniques: importance and use of oblique vertical sections.

This anatomic study of the lumbar region (as defined by Rouvière [11]) applied to multiplanar imaging techniques was carried out both in the cadaver and in vivo. The cadaver study (5 cases) consisted of anatomic sections (transverse, sagittal, frontal and oblique) and computerised three-dimensional reconstructions after CT studies on subjects injected with colored and radio-opaque latex. The in vivo study (4 cases) used MRI sections and three-dimensional ultrasound sections coupled with the pulsed doppler. The spatially referenced oblique vertical sections revealed the structures from unusual aspects, situating them amidst the retroperitoneal area with the maximum of topographic landmarks. The transposition of these results (obtained by sectional anatomy of the retroperitoneal region) to the new techniques of multiplanar formatting after MRI, ultrasound or CT data acquisition should optimise the investigation of certain retroperitoneal structures by specifying the ideal planes of section for each organ, while diminishing certain artefacts specific to acquisitions in the traditional planes of section. Oblique vertical sections seem eminently suitable for ultrasound location of the suprarenal compartments, study of the renal pedicles and topographic retroperitoneal location. This oblique vertical visualisation constitutes a fundamental resource for the development of video-monitored surgical procedures as it corresponds exactly to the axes of the access routes in percutaneous surgery of the kidney and the adjacent anatomic structures.