[Probing into Second Pathological Factors of Sjögren's Syndrome]

Sjögren's syndrome is a chronic autoimmune disease with unclear etiology. From the point of etiology, Chinese medicine (CM) theory holds that pathological products like dry toxin, blood stasis are produced in the pathological process. They are both pathologic results and pathogenic factors for its further development. So pathological products are also named as second pathogenic factors. In this article, the concept of second pathogenic factors was sorted and defined. Main second pathogenic factors of Sjögren's syndrome were pinpointed, and their modern medical bases were analyzed. Authors came to a conclusion that clearing away second pathogenic factors is a key point in treating Sjögren's syndrome.