hello all this is dr. Alsup and in this last learning objective video for the parotid gland
and submandibular triangle session we are going to discuss what are some of the pathological
considerations in these areas so what pathologies can occur with
the parotid gland but also the other salivary glands one thing that can occur is an infectious
agent can pass through the blood stream to kind of enter into the parotid gland region this can
cause inflammation and swelling of the parotid gland this is referred to as Parotiditis it's
a difficult thing to say you'll find you'll find that a lot of these pathologies have difficult
to pronounce names the product line is invested in connective tissue called the parotid sheath
and this sheath is very sturdy and unyielding so if the parotid gland increases in size that
unyielding sheath does not expand as well and so that compression can really cause considerable
pain as a parotid gland continues to swell mumps is a viral disease that can cause parotid gland
inflammation which was certainly much more common before it's vaccine was developed and
it's certainly not the only virus that can cause inflammation of the parotid gland this occurs most
commonly in children so any of the parotid gland inflammation will occur more commonly in
children but can certainly occur at any age and it's often associated with tenderness of the area
and occasionally is associated with an earache but these are not necessarily causative of one
another another pathology associated with all salivary glands is a very hard to pronounce term
sialolithiasis or the much easier to say salivary stones and you can find these either associated
with the glands or the ducts and actually it's more commonly associated with the salivary ducts
these stones are composed primarily of calcium concentrates and even hydroxyapatite and they
feel like little pebbles and they even look like little pebbles as you can see here they are most
commonly associated with the submandibular gland and Wharton's duct or the submandibular duct in
fact as you can see with these percentages is quite a bit more common in these and the other
the other salivary glands this is typically going to present with pain and swelling of the gland if
there is one of these stones present in those areas there can also be tumors associated with
the salivary glands but these are relatively rare when they do occur they are most commonly
associated with the parotid gland and this may necessitate the complete or partial removal of
portions of the product lands or so if if we do that let's take a minute and think about
what we know about the parotid gland and think through some of the anatomic relationships that
would be important to consider whenever surgery involving the parotid gland is necessary so let's
think through this question which nerve should a surgeon be most mindful of when performing
a parotidectomy or that removal of portions of the parotid gland is it a ansa
cervicalis B facial nerve or cranial nerve seven C the hypoglossal nerve cranial nerve 12 or
D the lingual nerve all right so what we know from our previous learning objective readings
and videos is that the facial nerve is and most of its branches are embedded within that parotid
gland before heading out towards the muscles of facial expression so if a surgeon is doing some
type of surgery in the parotid gland region it needs to be mine or they need to be mindful to
not cause permanent damage to the facial nerve or any of its branches in this region or it could
affect the ability for these muscles of facial expression to contract even deeper to the facial
vein but associated with the parotid gland are the retro mandibular vein and the external carotid
artery which due to the fact that they are deeper they're a little bit more or less susceptible to
injury than say the facial nerve but they still need to be considered in any surgery in the area
alright so that is all for this video please make sure you review and I will talk to you very soon