High-frequency color Doppler sonography of the submandibular gland: relationship between salivary secretion and blood flow

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the changes of blood flow of the submandibular gland in comparison with salivary secretion after gustatory stimulation through use of color Doppler sonography.High-frequency color Doppler sonography was performed on 30 healthy volunteers, aged 22 to 31 years. The prestimulation and poststimulation arterial blood flows were evaluated with color Doppler sonography and spectral analysis.The means of prestimulation maximum and minimum velocities and pulsatility index of the submandibular gland were 6.35 +/- 2.57 cm/sec, 1.79 +/- 0.93 cm/sec, and 1.53 +/- 0.42, respectively. After the stimulation, the color signals and velocities increased and the pulsatility index decreased. There was a close correlation between the increase in minimum velocity and that of salivary secretion.Color Doppler sonography is useful in analyzing changes in the blood flow of the submandibular gland caused by gustatory stimulation.