Discrimination between Sjögren's and non-Sjögren's sicca syndrome by sialoscintigraphy and antibodies against alpha-fodrin and Ro/La autoantigens.

Both Sjögren's syndrome (SS) and non-Sjögren's syndrome (NSS) can present with the sicca symptoms of dry eyes and a dry mouth but they are distinct pathological entities that require diagnostic discrimination. This study included 82 sicca syndrome patients and examined the ability of sialoscintigraphy and antibodies against the autoantigens alpha-fodrin, Ro and La to discriminate between SS and NSS. A total of 30.8% of SS patients compared with 58.8% of NSS patients were alpha-fodrin positive. The prevalence of Ro positivity was 69.4% for SS patients compared with 0% for NSS patients. The prevalence of La positivity was 52.4% for SS compared with 0% for NSS patients. Sialoscintigraphy showed that more NSS patients had grade III salivary gland impairment compared with SS patients (64.7% versus 19.4%). These data suggest that using sialoscintigraphy in combination with measuring the levels of serum alpha-fodrin, Ro and La might be useful for SS and NSS discrimination.