PULMONARY MANIFESTATIONS OF SJOGREN’S SYNDROME-A STUDY ON 42 PATIENTS

Introduction: Sjogren’s syndrome is defined by an autoimmune condition where there is influx of WBCs in the exocrine gland leading to dry mouth, dry nasal cavity and dental erosion. Sjogren’s syndrome can affect musculoskeletal, gastrointestinal, neurological, renal, cardiovascular and pulmonary systems. On extensive chart review we found that there are not many studies documenting the findings of CT scan of lungs in patients with Sjogren syndrome. Hence this study serves that purpose. Methods: We selected 42 patients who presented to the outpatient office between January 2017 to December 2021 who had diagnoses of Sjogren’s syndrome and had CT scan lung performed for various diagnostic purposes. We analyzed the CT scan findings for the most common pulmonary changes seen in patients with Sjogren’s syndrome. Results: Our sample included 42 patients out of which 34 were female and 8 were male with mean age of femalesbeing 54 (age range-42-68) and of males being 60(age range-45 to 72). Out of the 30 patients who had changes on CT scan, 12 patients had bronchiolar abnormalities, 5 patients had Interstitial lung disease, 3 had bilateral interstitial infiltrates, 3 had ground-glass opacities with subpleural and basilar predominance, 3 had Reticular abnormalities, with or without traction bronchiectasis, 2 had Honeycombing, 1 had peripheral parenchymal consolidations with air bronchograms and variable associated ground-glass opacities, and 1 had Cystic lung disease. Conclusion: Our study concluded that CT scan are a superior imaging modality in characterizing the disease progression in the lungs in patients of Sjogren’s syndrome. Chest X-ray is useful to detect only advanced imaging findings like pleural effusion or infiltrates. These findings are rare and would not be seen commonly.