Parotid irrigation: A promising option for juvenile recurrent parotitis

To study whether irrigating the parotid gland with saline solution through the parotid duct reduces the number of inflammatory episodes in patients with juvenile recurrent parotitis (JRP) over a 1-year period. This was a retrospective cohort study using the electronic clinical history data of patients with JRP that were treated with parotid irrigation under general anaesthesia at the Paediatric Surgery units of Consorci Sanitari Alt Penedès-Garraf and Hospital Universitari Mútua de Terrassa. The number of inflammation episodes in the year before and the year after treatment was analysed. A total of 15 patients with JRP were evaluated, of whom 10 met the criteria for irrigation. Data from 9 patients were available. The procedure was performed without incident in all of the patients. There was no difficulty with probing the duct and no need for orifice dilation. No post-lavage complications were observed. Four patients had complete resolution of inflammation events (44.4%), and the remaining 5 patients had a decrease in the number of events. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test showed a statistically significant difference between the number of inflammation events before and after the intervention (p = 0.009). Parotid irrigation with saline solution could be a safe and effective first-line technique for the treatment of JRP. IV. •Juvenile recurrent parotitis consists in recurrent inflammation of the parotid.•The recurrence of episodes results in the progressive destruction of the gland.•The number of episodes of inflammation decreased markedly after simple lavage.•Parotid irrigation can be a first-line treatment for juvenile recurrent parotitis.