SJOGRENS-SYNDROME WITH PLEURAL EFFUSION

Sjogren's syndrome (Sjs) can cause many organic changes, but is rarely accompanied by pleuritis. We report here a 62-year-old patient with s ubclinical Sjs who developed unilateral pleuritis with moderate effusi on. He was diagnosed to have subclinical Sjs based on the positivity o f anti SS-A/SS-B antibodies and the biopsy findings of minor salivary glands which revealed lymphocyte infiltration around the duct. In the pleural effusion, both increased lymphocytes and anti SS-A/SS-B antibo dies were observed. He showed no signs of infection nor malignancy. Th ere was no direct evidence that he had other collagen diseases which c ause pleuritis. We conclude that the pleuritis was caused by Sjs. In p atients with Sjs, activated polyclonal B lymphocytes and autoantibodie s are considered to cause systemic tissue damage. This case indicates that these factors can cause pleuritis in Sjs patients.