Can you answer these 5 questions about Sjogren's?

General
1

http://www.parkhurstexchange.com/challenge/quiz/dec08_sjogren

2

Sadly, I answered all 5 of the questions correctly or maybe, happily (?)

3

All five. I wish I could say the same of my doctors.

4

Was a little unsure of one if them re testing, but basically got them all right. Yep, I’m not sure if many of my docs could do as well.

5

I agree, with knowledge comes power and (responsibility) especially when it comes to getting the word out! And I too, am sure none of my doctors could answer all five questions.

6

I answered correctly EXCEPT the answer to Question #5 about the heart not being involved. I have read before that the mucosal lining or covering of both the heart and lungs can become inflamed and cause organ involvement because of the dryness. Major organ involvement can happen in any organ, the most common being the lymph glands (lymphoma) and lungs (interstitial lung disease).

Here is part of an article that looked at heart involvement in Sjogren's that found that the heart CAN be involved: This is from

http://www.clinexprheumatol.org/article.asp?a=3273 It's worth reading the last page especially.

I should add that it seems to be not all that common, but common enough to not discount the possibility. And too common to say that it ISN'T one of the complications associated with Sjogren's.

7

I just found this article on the National Institues of Health website http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19100010

"...Conclusion: Cardiac involvement is not rare in patients with Sjogren syndrome. PE, LVDD and PAH are usual cardiac manifestations in these patients. The serum level of CRP is positively related to PE in these patients with Sjogren syndrome."

8

I got four right.

9

Hi Della:

"A total of 124 cases were included in this analysis (mean age 47.4 years old; 5 males; average disease duration 85.5 months)." This was the beginning of this article, which shows that only 5 men made up this study; not enough of a cross section of the Sjogren's population, for me, anyway.

Della said:

I just found this article on the National Institues of Health website http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19100010

"...Conclusion: Cardiac involvement is not rare in patients with Sjogren syndrome. PE, LVDD and PAH are usual cardiac manifestations in these patients. The serum level of CRP is positively related to PE in these patients with Sjogren syndrome."