Correlation of lip histopathology and clinical manifestations in patients with Sj(o)gren's syndrome / 中华风湿病学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To evaluate the correlation between pathological findings and clinical characteristics of patients with Sj(o)gren's syndrome (SS). Methods Eighty-four patients diagnosed with SS from 119 suspected ones at Peking University First Hospital were recruited. According to the pathological changes of lip biopsy, 64 patients were focus score (FS)( + ) and 20 patients were FS (-). In the FS( + ) group, 20 patients had germinal center (GC)( + ) and 44 patients had no GC. x2 test and t test were used for statistical analysis. Results The duration of symptoms of dry eyes or dry mouth in the FS (+) group was longer than that in the FS (-) group (P＜0.05). In the FS ( + ) patients, those with GC (+) had significantly longer duration of xerothalmia or xerostomia, higher serum IgG levels, greater FS score, and higher incidence of system involvement than those without GC patients (P＜0.05). In the FS (-) group, lip biopsies showed degenerative changes in 6 (30%) patients. Those with degenerative changes had longer duration of dry eyes and dry mouth and higher incidence of system involvement. Conclusion GC (+) in FS (+) patients and degenerative changes in FS (-) patients from lip biopsy are associated with severer clinical manifestations in patients with SS, suggesting that more clinical attention should be paid to this subgroup of patients.