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Sjogren’s Musculoskeletal Pain Not Related to Enthesitis

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An assessment of entheses involvement using ultrasonography has found that musculoskeletal pain in patients with Sjogren’s Syndrome is not due to enthesitis. This prospective study included 25 Sjogren’s female patients (mean age, 53.2 + 11.3 yrs) and 25 sex and age-matched controls (mean age, 50.6 + 9.7 yrs), who all underwent an ultrasound (US) examination using gray scale and Doppler US. Researchers looked at 5 sites—distal quadricipital, proximal patellar, distal patellar, distal Achillian, and distal brachial tricipital—to determine the presence of hypoechogenicity, thickening, loss of fibrillar structure, erosions, enthesophytes, calcifications or Doppler hypervascularization. Sjogren’s patients had a lower number of entheses pathologies on ultrasound (3.92 + 1.93) compared to the control group (4.52 + 2.27) (P>.05) as well as a lower total score of enthesitis abnormalities (4.96+2.59 vs 5.72+2.92; P>0.5). The total score of enthesitic abnormalities seen on ultrasound was positively correlated to age in both the Sjogren’s and control groups.

Source: Abdelghani KB, Miladi S, Chammekhi M, et al. Entheses ultrasound assessment in primary Sjogren’s Syndrome. Joint Bone Spine. 2020;87(4):337-341.

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