Abstract：Objective: To analyse the MRI appearances of adenolymphoma in parotid gland, and improve the accuracy of diagnosis. Materials and Methods: The clinical and MRI findings of 40 cases with adenolymphoma in parotid gland were retrospectively analyzed. Among the 40 cases, the ratio of male to female was about 4.7∶1(33∶7), and the age ranged from 19 to 82 years old(mean age 58 years old), 31 cases of adenolymphoma(31/40, 77.5%) were over 50 years old, and 33 cases(33/40, 82.5%) had smoking habit. Results: Among the 40 cases, altogether there were 62 lesions, with solitary lesions(n=29), multiple lesions(n=11), most adenolymphomas(46/62, 74.2%) located in the posterior and inferior quadrant. On MRI, lesions were round, oval or lobulated in shape, well-defined, hypointense on T1WI, iso- or hyterintense on T2WI, cystic area showed long T1, long T2 signal, most of the lesion showed early mild or moderate enhancement after contrast administration. Conclusion: Adenolymphoma of parotid gland have some characteristic features on clinical and imaging, before operation, MRI not only can well demonstrate the size, number and location of adenolymphoma, but also can help diagnosis, differentiation diagnosis and therapeutic decision.
2009, Vol. 20 
