Texture analysis of sonographic features of the parotid gland in Sjögren's syndrome.

The purpose of this study was to develop a method for quantitative analysis of the sonographic features of parotid glands as a noninvasive tool for the diagnosis of Sjogren's syndrome.Sonographic texture analyses were performed on the parotid glands of 44 patients with Sjogren's syndrome, 83 healthy volunteers, and 17 patients with chronic parotitis, using a fast Fourier transform program.Texture analysis of sonographic studies of the parotid gland using a Fourier transform showed that the sum of the normalized radial power spectrum in the low-spatial-frequency region (S value) of the parotid gland was significantly higher (p < .0001) in the patients with definite Sjogren's syndrome [6.70 +/- 2.13 (x10(5))] than in the 72 age-matched normal volunteers [3.25 +/- 1.08 (x10(5))]. However, patients with probable Sjogren's syndrome showed S values [3.92 +/- 1.88 (x10(5))] similar to those of the controls. On the other hand, SDs of the echo levels in the parotid gland showed significantly greater (p < .0001) va...