Pulmonary manifestations of primary Sjogren's syndrome: a clinical, radiologic, and pathologic study.

RATIONALE: Clinicopathologic pulmonary manifestations associated with primary Sjogren's syndrome have yet to be reviewed in a large series since the recognition of nonspecific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP) as a distinct histologic pattern.

OBJECTIVES: To determine clinical presentations, high-resolution computed tomographic (HRCT) and histologic findings of the lung disease associated with primary Sjogren's syndrome in the light of NSIP, and to analyze prognosis of the disease.

METHODS: On the basis of 33 cases (31 surgical lung biopsies and 2 autopsies) collected consecutively from multiple centers, we have retrospectively evaluated clinical, radiologic, and pathologic manifestations of the disease. Prognostic factors were identified by univariate and multivariate analysis.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: We found that NSIP was the most frequently seen histologic pattern (20 of 33 cases [61%], 19 fibrosing and 1 cellular). Bronchiolar diseases and amyloid and malignant lymphoma were seen less frequently. HRCT-pathologic correlation resulted in a 94% positive predictive value of CT-NSIP pattern for pathologic diagnosis of NSIP, whereas the diagnostic value of HRCT was low (15%) with an HRCT pattern other than NSIP, data that may influence the decision to biopsy. The 5-year survival rate was 84% overall and 83% in patients with NSIP. Multivariate analysis on all patients showed that low Pa(O(2)) (p = 0.02) and presence of microscopic honeycombing (p = 0.04) were independently associated with survival. Patients with NSIP showed lower vital capacity (mean +/- SD: 68.5 +/- 16.6%pred) than patients without NSIP (92.5 +/- 18.6%pred; p < 0.001).

CONCLUSION: Among a diversity of pulmonary lesions in primary Sjogren's syndrome, NSIP was the commonest histologic pattern and had a favorable prognosis.