[Treatment with pilocarpine hydrochloride for sicca symptoms in Sjögren's syndrome]

We studied the efficacy of oral pilocarpine hydrochloride (9 mg/day, three times daily) on sicca symptoms in 21 patients with Sjögren's syndrome (SS) of the patients, 19 continued the treatment for at least one month, and subjective improvement of dry mouth and dry eye was observed in 10 patients (53%) and 5 patients (26%), respectively. As adverse effects, diaphoresis was most frequently recognized, but it was generally mild and tolerable. In the four patients who have been taking pilocarpine for 12 months, any severe side effects have not been observed. Since the incidences of clinical improvement of sicca symptoms and adverse effects were comparable with the other studies reported from US or Europe, our treatment protocol using pilocarpine hydrochloride (9 mg/day) was considered as appropriate for Japanese SS patients.