Salivary Gland Focus Score Is Associated With Myocardial Fibrosis in Primary Sjögren Syndrome Assessed by a Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Approach

Sjögren’s Syndrome-Related Organs Fibrosis: Hypotheses and Realities

“…Indeed, it was also reported that myocardial injury is typically clinically silent in patients with RA, and this could explain the lack of data on cardiac events in patients with SS, since clinical and pathophysiological characteristics are often shared between RA and SS. In recent papers, it was a high prevalence of myocardial fibrosis in the patients with SS who underwent to cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (cMRI) was observed, which can be used to obtain a quantitative functional evaluation of the myocardium [ 42 , 43 ]. In these studies, emerging data highlight that lymphocytic infiltration into the myocardium is conceivable as a pathological characteristic of myocardial fibrosis in SS patients.…”

“…In these studies, emerging data highlight that lymphocytic infiltration into the myocardium is conceivable as a pathological characteristic of myocardial fibrosis in SS patients. The results clearly highlight that the higher the extent of lymphocytic infiltration into salivary glands, the greater the possibility of development of myocardial fibrosis [ 42 ]. In fact, myocardial fibrosis is present in patients with SS without cardiac symptoms, and alterations in cMRI data were often linked with SG focus score (FS) ≥ 3 [ 42 , 44 ].…”

“…The results clearly highlight that the higher the extent of lymphocytic infiltration into salivary glands, the greater the possibility of development of myocardial fibrosis [ 42 ]. In fact, myocardial fibrosis is present in patients with SS without cardiac symptoms, and alterations in cMRI data were often linked with SG focus score (FS) ≥ 3 [ 42 , 44 ]. This study suggests a significant association between myocardial fibrosis and the degree of lymphocytic infiltration into the SGs as an important prognosis factor for SS [ 43 ].…”

“…These findings suggest and confirm that cardiac dysfunction and cardiac fibrosis are strongly evident in SS patients. Furthermore, the importance of this study was to demonstrate that myocardial fibrosis could be considered as an extra-glandular event of SS [ 43 ], and that cMRI could be a useful tool for detecting asymptomatic myocardial fibrosis in patients with SS with a higher SG FS [ 42 ].…”