The Relationship of Pain Severity to White Matter Abnormalities in patients with Primary Sjogren's Syndrome

摘要

Primary Sjogren's syndrome (PSS) is a common systemic autoimmune disorder with a slowly progressive course characterized by sicca manifestations. Extra-glandular organ involvement is present in approximately 50% of patients [1]. World-wide the prevalence is between 0.1 to 0.5% with a female gender predominance of over 90%. As many as 70% of PSS patients report persistent fatigue often accompanied by poor sleep, widespread pain and cognitive symptoms [2-4].In a recent large study of over 250 PSS patients, 65% reported positive sensory symptoms which could not be accounted for by either history of Raynaud's phenomenon, affective disorder, or history of fibromyalgia(FM) [5]. PSS patients also present with poorly understand pain syndromes including glossodynia, facial pain and vulvodynia. Neuropathic pain is reported by some PSS patients in whom both electrophysiologic studies and epidermal nerve fiber density are normal suggesting a central rather than a peripheral nervous system mechanism.