Triple-Negative Sjogren’s Syndrome and Recurrent Pneumothorax: An Uncommon Presentation of Autoimmune Disease

    July 2022 in “ Cureus
    Ziryab Imad, Yassin Abdelrahim Abdalla, Salih B Hamza, Mohammed E Abubakr, Fathelrahman H Elneel, Fatima M Mustafa, Sami A Abdalgadir, Jimmy William
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    TLDR Recurrent pneumothorax can occur in Sjogren's syndrome, even without common markers.
    This document discussed a rare case of a 60-year-old female with Sjogren's syndrome (SS) who experienced recurrent pneumothorax, an uncommon complication of the disease. The patient presented with symptoms including shortness of breath, joint pain, oral dryness, hair loss, and tongue ulcerations. Despite being triple-negative for common SS markers, she was diagnosed with SS due to a high erythrocyte sedimentation rate and elevated antinuclear antibody titer. Initially, a chest tube resolved her left-sided pneumothorax, but a recurrence required surgical intervention, leading to complete recovery. This case highlighted the rarity of pneumothorax in SS, with only two other cases reported in the literature, typically linked to underlying lung pathology.
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