Treatment of Juvenile Recurrent Parotitis: the Yield of Minimally Invasive Intervention, a Prospective Controlled Study

Juvenile recurrent parotitis (JRP) is an inflammatory disease characterized by recurrent painful swelling of the Parotid gland in the pediatric age. A watchful waiting treatment strategy was acceptable for most children; however, recent studies claimed that a sialoendoscopic intervention may stop the recurrent flare-ups.

Moreover, the accessibility to this treatment modality and furthermore to the skillful operators are yet limited in many medical centers.

Juvenile Recurrent Parotitis is defined as a non-obstructive, non-suppurative inflammatory disease characterized by unilateral or bilateral parotid gland swelling recurring at least twice before puberty. It is the second most common salivary gland disease in children after mumps, in young children it is difficult to differentiate between the two. The clinical symptoms of JRP include intermittent and usually unilateral (might also be bilateral, usually with symptoms more prominent on one side) swelling of the parotid gland which occurs in quite a sudden pattern (over a course of houres or even minutes) and may persist for days or weeks, usually associated with local pain and erythema of the overlying skin, and systemic manifestation such as malaise and fever. The first episode typically occurs between ages 3-6, more often in males than females.

The etiology of JRP is still obscure, though a variety of causative factors have been proposed as contributing to JRP, such as dental congenital malformations, congenital duct malformation, genetic factors and immunological anomalies.

In addition to the conservative follow-up treatment modality, management with operative endoscopic treatment is another considerable option, that is now gaining stronger evidence of efficacy.