Pancreatic exocrine involvement in primary Sjögren's syndrome

Exocrine pancreatic involvement of primary Sjögren's syndrome (SS) was studied. Pancreatic enzyme levels (total amylase, pancreatic isoamylase and immunoreactive trypsin) along with anti-ductuli antibodies (Ab) were studied in 77 patients with primary SS. In 10 patients with normal and 10 with abnormal enzyme levels pancreatic CT scans were also obtained. All enzyme levels were significantly increased in comparison to the control group. Immunoreactive trypsin was found to be the most frequently increased enzyme (35.3% of pSS patients). Anti-ductuli Ab were not found in any patient. Pancreatic CT scans were normal in all subjects with enzymatic increase, whereas 2 abnormal scans were demonstrated in patients without enzyme changes. Our study suggests that exocrine pancreatic involvement is frequent when measured by enzyme levels. Nevertheless, we were unable to demonstrate any morphological lesion by CT scan.