Anatomical autosplenectomy is not an uncommon finding in SCA patients. This may be related to inadequate clinical care due to the lack of good health education, ignorance, poverty, and poor standard of care, as well as the lack of newer therapeutic agents.

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E. N was a 48-year-old man referred from a peripheral hospital to the Maxillofacial unit of Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria, on account of 1-year history of left-sided jaw pain and swelling, particularly after meal. The conventional plain radiograph of the jaws appeared normal as there was no opacity of soft tissue or calcific density visualized. Sialography revealed an oval-shaped filling defect in the dilated left Wharton's duct, which could suggest radiolucent calculus. Ultrasound scan showed the lesion as a brightly echogenic mass surrounded by anechoic clear fluid (saliva), casting posterior acoustic shadow. A diagnosis of left submandibular sialolithiasis was made. The maxillofacial surgeons decided to remove the calculus surgically, but the patient refused surgery and then defaulted from subsequent follow-up visits.

No abstract