[Contemporary diagnostics of the primary Sjögren's syndrome].

Primary Sjögren's syndrome is one of the most common systemic autoimmune disorders, whose diagnosis is very often delayed. In most cases it is a mild disease with symptoms such as dryness and musculoskeletal pain and fatigue but 20-40% of patients suffer from severe systemic manifestations. Extraglandular manifestations can be the first sign of the disease, therefore it is very important to diagnose them as early as possible. Classification criteria established by the American-European Consensus Group (AECG) have been applied in primary Sjögren's syndrome diagnosis since 2002. They took both subjective - dryness of eyes and mouth - and objective tests - imaging and functional tests of salivary glands, ocular tests, histopathologic test of minor salivary glands and presence of typical autoantibodies - into account. New classification criteria proposed in 2012 by the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) include objective tests only. Most recent research data suggest that noninvasive ultrasound examination of salivary gland should be included in the diagnostics process of Sjögren's syndrome due to its high specificity values which are comparable to those obtained from minor salivary glands biopsy. Also, it is important to evaluate disease activity in patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome using a score index - ESSDAI (EULAR Sjögren's Syndrome Disease Activity Index).