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L Sreebny

Publications and source records attributed to L Sreebny.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1996

Whole saliva and the diagnosis of Sjögren's syndrome: an evaluation of patients who complain of dry mouth and dry eyes. Part 1: Screening tests.

UNLABELLED: Sjögren's syndrome (SS) is a common autoimmune disorder characterised by generalised desiccation, exocrine hypofunction and serologic abnormalities, More than 90% of the patients are women. OBJECTIVE: To determine if whole saliva could be used to diagnose this disease. SETTING: The study was conducted at the School of Dental Medicine, SUNY, at Stony Brook. PATIENTS: There were 49 subjects (48 F; 1 M), the mean age was 54 +/- 13 years. In order to be admitted into the study, they had to complain of dry mouth and dry eyes. TESTS: Whole saliva was collected by the spitting method. "Screening Tests" were employed to measure the salivary flow rate, pH, buffer capacity; lactobacillus and yeast concentrations. Chemical tests were performed to determine protein, albumin, sodium and amylase activity. Lacrimal dryness was assessed by the Schirmer and Rose-Bengal methods. RESULTS: Based on the sialometric findings, the patients were divided into 3 groups: Group 1: those with abnormally low resting (RFR) and stimulated (SFR) flow rates; Group 2: those with a low RFR but normal SFR; and Group 3: those with normal salivary flow rates. The group 1 patients were unique: their saliva demonstrated a low pH and buffer capacity, high lactobacillus and yeast concentrations, decreased protein output and amylase activity, and elevated albumin and sodium. Moreover, virtually all of them had abnormally low lacrimal flow rates. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggested that whole saliva could be used to provisionally diagnose SS. Critical to this diagnosis was an abnormally low stimulated whole saliva flow rate. Other requisites included a low resting flow rate, the presence of dry mouth and dry eyes and evidence of lacrimal hypofunction. All of these attributes can easily be obtained by dentists in their clinics.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Whole saliva and the diagnosis of Sjögren's syndrome: an evaluation of patients who complain of dry mouth and dry eyes. Part 2: Immunologic findings.

UNLABELLED: Sjögren's syndrome (SS) is a multisystem, autoimmune disease characterised by generalised desiccation, exocrine hypofunction and serologic abnormalities. Last year we showed that the antibodies which are quasi-specific for diagnosis of SS, anti SS-A/Ro and anti SS-B/La, were present in the saliva of patients with this disease. OBJECTIVE: To determine their presence in patients who complain of dry mouth and dry eyes. SETTING: The study was conducted at the School of Dental Medicine, SUNY at Stony Brook. PATIENTS: There were 49 patients (Mean Age = 54 +/- 13 years). TESTS: Serum was analysed for the SS and other antibodies with "Western Blot Autoantibody Strips". RESULTS: The findings showed that there was a strong correlation between the presence of the SS antibodies in the serum and the saliva. The SS antibodies were primarily found in the saliva of the patients whose resting and stimulated, whole saliva, flow rates were abnormally low. Antibodies to other autoimmune disease (lupus, scleroderma and mixed connective tissue disease) were also found in whole saliva. CONCLUSIONS: The findings in Part 1 of this study, of patients who had complained of dry mouth and dry eyes, suggest that those patients, who demonstrated low resting and stimulated flow rates and had lacrimal hypofunction, suffered from SS. The observation in this paper, that the whole saliva of these patients contains the SS antibodies, confirms this diagnosis. The data suggest that whole saliva can be used to establish the diagnosis of SS and other autoimmune diseases.

Adult↗