A novel potential method for early diagnosis of Sjogren’s syndrome: lacrimal gland color doppler ultrasonography

Primary Sjogren's Syndrome (pSS) is characterized by earlier and more frequently involved in the lacrimal gland (LG). This study used lacrimal gland color doppler ultrasonography (LGCDUS) to explore changes in both structure and blood flow of LG in early-stage pSS patients. This is a retrospective case-control study which included 24 patients with pSS and 26 healthy controls. The size of LGs including major, minor and sagittal diameter and the hemodynamics of lacrimal artery including peak systolic velocity (PSV), end-diastolic velocities (EDV), and resistance index (RI), quantitatively analyzing and comparing were between the two groups based on LGCDUS. In the pSS group, correlation analysis was conducted among various parameters of LG and pSS. To evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of parameters of LG, the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was measured. The early-stage pSS patients showed significantly increased EDV, and decreased RI of LG (P < 0.0083, after Bonferroni correction). The LG sagittal diameter showed a significant positive correlation with C-reactive protein (CRP) (P < 0.00049, after Bonferroni correction). The LGCDUS parameters for diagnosis showed an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.764. This study observed that LGCDUS can detect damage, the systemic activity and ocular surface changes in early-stage pSS patients. Therefore, LGCDUS provides not only a new method for evaluating pathological changes and functions of LGs, but also a new and feasible technical means for diagnosing and management of pSS.