SARCOIDOSIS WITH SICCA SYNDROME - 2 CASE- REPORTS AND A RETROSPECTIVESTUDY

Two unusual cases of sarcoidosis with sicca syndrome are reported, One of the patients presented with the clinical, laboratory test, and rad ionuclide scan abnormalities characteristic of sicca syndrome, and was found to have sarcoidosis upon examination of histologic specimens, T he other patient developed sicca syndrome with Chisholm stage III hist ologic lesions some time after having been diagnosed with sarcoidosis. Clinically silent involvement of the salivary and lacrimal glands is common in patients with sarcoidosis, whereas clinical sicca syndrome i s rare. The sicca syndrome can be caused either by sarcoid lesions or by interstitial scleroinflammatory lesions. It has been suggested that Chisholm's stage IV lesions occur before the development of sarcoid g ranulomas and that the histologic findings at this phase can misleadin gly suggest Sjogren's syndrome.