LABIAL SALIVARY-GLAND BIOPSY ASSESSMENT IN RHEUMATOID VASCULITIS

Objectives-To assess the vascular involvement in labial salivary gland (LSG) from patients with rheumatoid vasculitis (RV). Methods-Forty se ven patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) took part in a prospective study. Among them, 12 had proven RV. LSG biopsy was performed after l ocal anaesthesia. Results-Histological appearance of inflammatory vasc ular damage was observed in all but one patient with proven RV (92%). Inflammatory vascular involvement was also identified in LSG biopsy of seven patients with RA (20%) and only one patient in the control grou p (8%). A second specimen of LSG was studied after a mean treatment pe riod of six months and failed to show any feature of inflammatory vasc ular involvement in three of the five cases that were analysed. Conclu sions-The study emphasises the high incidence of immunopathological fe atures of microvascular damage in patients with RV. LSG biopsy is mini mally invasive and may be a potential useful tool for the diagnosis of RV especially when skin lesions are absent or impossible to biopsy. T he assessment of the predictive value of positive LSG biopsy in RA req uires a long term prospective study.