Morphology, Volume, and Density Characteristics of the Parotid Glands before and after Chemoradiation Therapy in Patients with Head and Neck Tumors

Figure 4

Lateral view of the skeleton after automatic segmentation along with parotid glands in the postchemoradiation therapy (CRT) period. Lateral view of the skeleton with reduced bone transparency aiming to visualize the morphology of the parotid gland and perform volumetric analysis (b). Our results show that CRT may result in a significant decrease in the mean parotid volume. Frontal view of the skeleton along with parotid glands in the post-CRT period (c). Frontal view of the skeleton with reduced bone transparency in the post-CRT period (d). The morphological alterations seen in this study can be associated with a significant decrease in the volume of the parotid gland together with a displacement of its center of mass toward medial and cranial directions. This implies substantial alterations in the lateral and inferior surfaces of the gland.

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