Department of Internal Medicine, Jeonbuk National University Medical School and Hospital, Jeonju, 54896, Republic of Korea.
Research Institute of Clinical Medicine of Jeonbuk National University-Biomedical Research Institute of Jeonbuk National University Hospital, Jeonju, 54907, Republic of Korea.
Sci Rep. 2021 Dec 8;11(1):23633. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-03185-z.
Scrub typhus is an acute febrile illness caused by the intracellular pathogen Orientia tsutsugamushi. The clinical features include fever, myalgia, lymphadenopathy, and dry mouth. However, no studies have assessed the symptom of dry mouth in patients with scrub typhus. We investigated the pattern of salivary scintigraphy during the acute febrile state and compared it with any changes after treatment. Fourteen patients underwent both pre- and post-treatment salivary scintigraphy. Imaging analysis was conducted using radioactivity in the oral cavity, parotid glands, and submandibular glands. During the acute phase, the radioactivity in the oral cavity markedly decreased, while that in the parotid and submandibular glands was preserved. After treatment, radioactivity in the oral cavity showed a significant increase at 20-min, 40-min, and after wash-out. The ejection fraction (%) of the parotid glands also increased after treatment. In contrast, the radioactivity levels of the parotid and submandibular glands were not statistically different after treatment. Salivary scintigraphy indicated that insufficient saliva excretion from the salivary glands into the oral cavity was one reason for the dry mouth reported by patients with scrub typhus. In the future, salivary scintigraphy imaging could contribute to the evaluation of dry mouth in patients with scrub typhus.
恙虫病是由细胞内病原体恙虫东方体引起的急性发热性疾病。其临床特征包括发热、肌痛、淋巴结病和口干。然而，目前尚无研究评估恙虫病患者口干的症状。我们研究了急性发热期唾液闪烁显像的模式，并将其与治疗后的变化进行了比较。14 名患者均进行了治疗前后的唾液闪烁显像检查。使用口腔、腮腺和颌下腺的放射性活性进行成像分析。在急性期，口腔的放射性活性明显下降，而腮腺和颌下腺的放射性活性保持不变。治疗后，口腔的放射性活性在 20 分钟、40 分钟和冲洗后显著增加。腮腺的射流分数（%）也在治疗后增加。相比之下，腮腺和颌下腺的放射性活性在治疗后没有统计学差异。唾液闪烁显像表明，唾液腺分泌的唾液不足以进入口腔是导致恙虫病患者口干的原因之一。未来，唾液闪烁显像成像可能有助于评估恙虫病患者的口干症状。
