A case report, a case who developed limited cutaneous scleroderma and pulmonary hypertension 8 years after diagnosis of anti-centromere antibody-positive Sjögren syndrome

Abstract

A 52-year-old woman was diagnosed as having anti-centromere antibody (ACA)-positive primary Sjögren syndrome (pSS). Eight years later, she visited our hospital because she had developed dyspnoea. She was diagnosed as having pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) with pulmonary veno-occlusive disease on the basis of the results of right heart catheterisation, a severe decrease in diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide (D_LCO, 17%) and desaturation (69%) after a 6-minute walk test. She was also diagnosed as having limited cutaneous systemic sclerosis (lcSSc) because she had developed finger sclerosis. The six-minute walk distance had improved by 54 m 3 months after commencing treatment with tadalafil. Clinicians should be alert to the possibility of patients with ACA-positive SS developing lcSSc and PAH during their clinical course.

Keywords:

• Primary Sjögren’s syndrome
• systemic sclerosis
• pulmonary hypertension
• tadarafil
• pulmonary veno-occlusive disease

Ethical approval

Not applicable.

Conflict of interest

None.