Labial salivary gland biopsy in Sjogren's syndrome

In the majority of cases, autoimmune sialadenitis is a feature of Sjogren's syndrome. This systemic autoimmune disease is, therefore, clinically characterised by sicca symptoms such as xerostomia and keratoconjunctivitis sicca. Since autoimmune sialadenitis affects major as well as minor salivary glands, histopathological examination is almost always carried out using labial salivary gland biopsies. A positive histopathological result is determined as a focal lymphocytic sialadenitis with at least one aggregate of 50 or more lymphocytes and histiocytes per 4 mm(2) of salivary gland tissue. As one out of four objective findings, focus scoring belongs to the classification criteria for Sjogren's syndrome according to the American-European consensus group.