PRIMARY SJOGREN'S SYNDROME PRESENTING AS PLEURITIS - A RARE MANIFESTATION

Sjogren's syndrome is an autoimmune exocrinopathy involving mainly salivary and lacrimal glands. Several systemic manifestations may be found in patients with Sjogren's syndrome including neurological disorders but is rarely accompanied by pleuritis(1).We report here a 54 year old female patient, a case of primary sjogren's syndrome presenting as pleural effusion along with peripheral nervous system involvement and xeropthalmia. She was positive for SS-A antibody with positive Schirmers test. Minor salivary gland biopsy revealed lymphocytic infiltration around the duct . In patients with sjogren's syndrome, activated polyclonal B lymphocytes antibodies are considered to cause the systemic disease