SARCOIDOSIS MIMICKING SJOGRENS-SYNDROME - HISTOPATHOLOGIC OBSERVATIONS

The clinical manifestations of Sjogren's syndrome (SS) and sarcoidosis can be identical. Of the 1600 patients whom we have evaluated for dry ness of the mouth and eyes, 300 proved to have SS and 5 had sarcoidosi s. The patients with sarcoidosis had combinations of salivary gland en largement, elevated antinuclear antibody titers, reduced salivary flow rates, and keratoconjunctivitis sicca, findings typically associated with SS. Finding non-caseating granulomas in a labial salivary gland b iopsy specimen may be the only way to definitively differentiate these two disorders.