Central nervous system involvement in primary Sjgren's syndrome

Objective To investigate the clinical features of central nervous system involvement in pSS.Methods The clinical data of 21 CNS-SS patients in our hospital were retrospectively reviewed.Results There were a variety of neuropsychiatrie presentations in pSS,in which 12 patients had brain involvement and 9 patients had spinal cord involvement,accounting for 57.1% and 42.9% respectively.Seven patients had con- current peripheral nervous system involvement.Neurological involvement of 10 patients preceded other syrup- toms of pSS.The mean duration of pSS at the onset of CNS-SS was(4±6)years.Abnormal MRI results had been found in 13 patients,of which 8 patients had demyelination lesions,which was the most frequent presen- tation,and accounted for 38.1%.Cerebral spinal fluid abnormality was seen in 11 CNS-SS patients,among which protein elevation was found in 10,pressure elevation in 6 and white cell count elevation in 5.Conclu- sions Central nervous system may be involved in pSS.MRI and cerebral spinal fluid tests are essential for the diagnosis of CNS-SS.CNS-SS may features of spinal cord and the peripheral nervous system involvement CNS-SS usually carries a mild clinical process and frequently oceurrs in stable pSS.