[Systematic study of sequential salivary gland scintigraphy during rheumatoid arthritis and collagenosis. Apropos of 150 examinations].

Sequential salivary scintigraphy has been practised systematically in 130 patients hospitalized in a rheumatology unit. These patients were suffering from typical, classical rheumatoid arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis with high positivity for anti-nuclear antibodies, clearly defined polyarthritis, systemic scleroderma, other types of collagenosis, forms of inflammatory polyarticular rheumatism other than rheumatoid arthritis and collagenosis, and from different degenerative diseases. The scintigraphic anomalies were divided in three stages according to a personal classification. Nine patients presented a patend Gougerot-Sjögren syndrome. All of them had abnormal or very abnormal scintigraphy. However, the patients with classical rheumatoid arthritis without signs of the Gougerot-Sjögren syndrome, also showed a high frequency of isotopic anomalies that were equally severe. These were clearly connected only with the particular diagnosis (with classical rheumatoid arthritis, but not with clearly defined polyarthritis or collagenosis). No other direct relationship could be established between these diseases and the clinical, radiological, laboratory, or therapeutic aspects of the case. On the other hand, they were often associated with a reduction in lacrymal and salivary secretion. These isotopic studies, in combination with other findings shed a new light on the Gougerot-Sjögren syndrome, taking into account the diffusion of the exocrine lesions and of the contributions of the most modern methods of investigation.