Juvenile recurrent parotitis.

BACKGROUND: Juvenile recurrent parotitis (JRP) is a rare, recurrent non-obstructive, nonsuppurative parotid inflammation in young children with a multifactorial etiology.

METHODS: The records of 12 children with recurrent parotitis were retrospectively reviewed.

RESULTS: The age of onset ranged from 3 to 8 years (mean, 5.1 years). Each attack lasted an average of 3.5 days. The major clinical manifestations included fever (75%), swelling (100%), and pain (100%). One girl also had xerostomia and keratoconjunctivitis sicca. Her biopsy specimen from a minor salivary gland was consistent with juvenile Sjiigren's syndrome. Six patients had positive antinuclear antibodies (4 with a speckled pattern and 2 each with a homogeneous or nucleolar pattern). Bilateral sialography was performed in 9 children. The results in 4 were normal, 2 had unilateral punctate sialectasis, and 3 had bilateral sialectasis. After sialography, the frequency of recurrences significantly decreased from 5.11 to 0.56 per year (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: Bilateral sialography is useful for the diagnosis of JRP, but it also appears to decrease the frequency of recurrences.