Scintigraphy of the Salivary Gland in Patients With Sjögren’s Syndrome Treated With Pilocarpine

OBJECTIVE: This report describes monitoring of salivary glands through scintigraphy in one patientwith SS before and after the administration of 1% pilocarpine. DISCUSSION: Sjogren’s Syndrome(SS) is an immune-mediated disease that most commonly attacks the exocrine glands. The diagnosisof SS is based on the objective and subjective criteria that confirm the damage or diminished activityof salivary and lachrymal glands, in turn resulting in xerostomia and xerophthalmia. CONCLUSION:Scintigraphy with [99mTc] pertechnetate can be used to assess the progression of disease activity, thelocation affected and severity on the glands involved. Scintigraphy can also be used to assess xerostomiathrough activity time analyses, numeric indices, visual interpretations, and radiopharmaceuticalpercentages retained in the gland.