Clinical and imaging findings of lymphoma in patients with Sjögren syndrome.
OBJECTIVE
To describe and correlate the clinical and imaging findings of lymphomas in patients with Sjögren syndrome.


METHODS
The authors reviewed the medical and imaging records of 27 cases of lymphoma from among a total of 463 patients with Sjögren syndrome. The estimated prevalence of lymphoma in patients with Sjögren syndrome was 5.8%. There were 22 women and 5 men. Histopathologically, 26 of the 27 neoplasms were non-Hodgkin lymphoma, including 6 mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphomas, and the other neoplasm was Hodgkin lymphoma. The clinical and imaging findings of lymphomas were analyzed.


RESULTS
No obvious correlations were present between the duration or severity of Sjögren syndrome and the lymphoma development. At the initial diagnosis, extranodal involvement was observed in 14 (52%) of the 27 patients, including the salivary gland (n = 9), lacrimal gland (n = 2), lung (n = 2), and thyroid gland (n = 1), mostly in the neck organs. On the other hand, nodal involvement was observed in 21 (78%) of the 27 patients. Of these 21 patients, 19 had at least cervical lymph node involvement.


CONCLUSIONS
Patients with Sjögren syndrome are at increased risk of lymphoma development. Because most lymphomas initially involve the neck organs, including the lymph nodes, meticulous imaging studies mainly focused on the cervical regions are recommended in the follow-up of patients with Sjögren syndrome.
Tonami
Hisao
H
Department of Radiology, Kanazawa Medical University, Daigaku 1-1, Uchinada, Kahoku, Ishikawa 920-0293, Japan. tonami@kanazawa-med.ac.jp
Matoba
Munetaka
M
Kuginuki
Yasuaki
Y
Yokota
Hajime
H
Higashi
Kotaro
K
Yamamoto
Itaru
I
Sugai
Susumu
S
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology; D008228:Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012859:Sjogren's Syndrome / Q000150:complications*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed