Acute transient swelling of the salivary glands during and following endotracheal anaesthesia.

A report is presented of five cases of transient swelling of salivary glands during and following endotracheal anaesthesia. No definite relation between the glandular swellings, sex, premedication, anaesthesics and type of surgery was found. The cause of the salivary gland swelling is, at present, unknown. However, "bucking", straining and/or the procedure of endotracheal intubation may be the most likely contributing factors. Although the swelling was of short duration and was benign, we should be familiar with the possible causes, the signs and the lack of clinical significance, in order to avoid unexpected anxiety to the patient.