Chest
Volume 94, Issue 2, August 1988, Pages 438-440
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Sjögren's Syndrome with Multiple Bullae and Pulmonary Nodular Amyloidosis

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We treated a patient with Sjögren's syndrome associated with multiple bullae and pulmonary nodular amyloidosis, both of which were identified by open lung biopsy. The mechanism of bullae formation appeared to be narrowing of the airway, as a result of extensive inflammatory cell infiltration to the bronchiolar wall, which acted as the check valve mechanism. We believe this to be the first reported case of Sjögren's syndrome accompanied by these two pulmonary manifestations.

Section snippets

CASE REPORT

A 53-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital with the chief complaints of cough and exertional dyspnea, which had appeared three years earlier and had steadily progressed. Multiple linear shadows and bullous change were presented on chest roentgenograms six years ago, but at that time, she did not have any pulmonary complaint. She also complained of dryness of the conjunctiva and mouth. The physical examination disclosed only slight crepitations on chest auscultation. Laboratory examination

DISCUSSION

Although pulmonary complications associated with Sjögren's syndrome have attracted attention in recent years,1, 2 bullae formation has been reported in only one case;3 pulmonary nodular amyloidosis is also a rare concomitant.1, 3 Thus, this is the first report of a patient having these two complications.

In this patient, the primary and most interesting change was the infiltration of lymphocytes and plasma cells into the bronchiolar wall, without involvement of other lung regions. Extensive

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  • BonnerH et al.

    Lymphoid infiltration and amyloidosis of lung in Sjögren's syndrome

    Arch Pathol

    (1973)
There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

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