12
Primary Sj
€
ogren's syndrome
Maureen Rischmueller
a, b, *
, Joanna Tieu
a
, Susan Lester
a, b
a
Rheumatology Department, The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Adelaide, Australia
b
Discipline of Medicine, The University of Adelaide, Australia
Keywords:
Primary Sj€ ogren's syndrome
ESSDAI
ESSPRI
Labial biopsy
Rituximab
abstract
Primary Sj€ ogren's syndrome (pSS) is a relatively common auto-
immune systemic rheumatic disease. In addition to sicca syndrome
and swollen salivary glands, systemic features manifest in the
majority of patients, and are severe in 15%, particularly affecting
the joints, skin, lungs, and peripheral nervous system. A recent
meta-analysis estimated a pooled relative risk of 13.76 for the
development of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, particularly in pSS pa-
tients who have parotid enlargement, vasculitis, cryoglobulinemia,
and antibodies to Ro and La. pSS is the underlying diagnosis in
one-third of mothers of neonates affected by congenital heart
block. The diagnosis of pSS is complex and requires a stepwise
approach to evaluate symptoms of ocular and oral dryness,
objective measures of lacrimal and salivary gland dysfunction, and
evidence of autoimmunity with Ro/La autoantibodies and labial
salivary gland biopsy. It is essential to eliminate other autoimmune
diseases, as well as non-autoimmune causes of sicca syndrome,
such as menopause, endocrine diseases, anticholinergic effects of
drugs, and fibromyalgia, to delineate pSS patients who are at risk
of systemic complications. Recent major advances in the diagnosis
of pSS have been the development of classification criteria, which
serve as a template for clinical diagnosis, and outcome measures
for use in clinical trials and prospective patient cohorts. Clinical
data and biological samples from longitudinal cohorts, embedded
into clinical practice, will be essential to further improve the
diagnosis and management of pSS, increase knowledge about the
natural history of the disease, gain insights into its pathogenesis,
and stratify patients according to their risk of systemic disease and
NHL. At present, there is a gap in evidence regarding the role of
structured protocols in the management of pSS. Recent
* Corresponding author. Rheumatology Department, The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Adelaide, Australia.
E-mail address: maureen.rischmueller@sa.gov.au (M. Rischmueller).
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Best Practice & Research Clinical
Rheumatology
journal homepage: www.elsevierhealth.com/berh
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.berh.2016.04.003
1521-6942/Crown Copyright © 2016 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Best Practice & Research Clinical Rheumatology 30 (2016) 189e220