Tehran University Medical Journal

Background: Sjögren’s syndrome is the second most common systemic autoimmune disease after rheumatoid arthritis, RA, with a prevalence of about 0.5% in the general population. It occurs primarily in perimenopausal women (at a ratio of women to men of 9: 1) Sjögren’s syndrome is characterized by lymphocytic infiltration to exocrine glands. The specific autoantibodies of this syndrome are against Ro (SSA) and La (SSB). B cell dysfunction occurs in patients with Sjögren's syndrome. B lymphocyte cells produce monoclonal immunoglobulin heavy and light chains addition to producing Ro (SSA) and La (SSB). Up to 25% of patients in this situation are associated with antibody production. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of monoclonal immunoglobulin in patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome.
Methods: 31 patients with primary Sjogren's syndrome diagnosed according to the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criteria referred to Rheumatology Clinics of Firoozgar Hospital, Tehran, during first six months of 2016, were studied. Clinical examinations and tests carried out. We analyzed serum monoclonal immunoglobulins by immunofixation electrophoresis (IFE) on agarose gels with specific antisera to IgG, IgM, IgA, and κ and λ chains. The IFE was performed with a Helena immunofixation agarose kit (Helena Laboratories, Beaumont, TX, USA) following the manufacturer's recommended procedure. The measures of Anti-Ro, anti-La, rheumatoid factor (RF), antinuclear antibodies (ANA) with immunofluorescent method, complete blood count (CBC) with differential by peripheral blood smear, an erythrocyte sedimentation rate with western green tube, dip stick urine analysis, urine specific gravity (SG) with Refractometer (Mesu Lab Instruments Co., Guangzhou, China), turbidimetry serum complement, and the complement CH50 with ELISA were done.
Results: Most of (87%) patients were female. The mean age of patients was 45.32±12.02 years. The majority of the patients (94%, 29 cases), ocular sign was observed. Xerostomia were common in 84% cases (n=26). Arthralgia/arthritis and submandibular enlargement were common 48% and 19% of patients, respectively. Lymphadenopathy, lung involvement and parathyroid, each was prevalent in 16% of patients. Vasculitis in 13% and Raynaud's phenomenon in 6% of the patients were common. Liver and kidney involvements with the lowest prevalence, each was prevalent in 3% (1 person) patients. RF and the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) were abnormal in 22.58% and 12.90% of patients, respectively. The immunofluorescent antinuclear antibody (ANA or FANA) pattern, C3 and C4 complements levels were abnormal in 16.12%, 12.90% and 6.4% of patients, respectively. In 29% (n=9), monoclonal antibodies were higher than normal. IgG, IgM and IgG, were abnormal in 19.3% (n=6), 6.4% (n=2) and 3.3% (n=1), respectively.
Conclusion: Monoclonal immunoglobulin levels in patients with primary Sjogren's syndrome increases. To achieve more definitive and reliable results, this study should be repeated with larger sample size and at different times.

Background: Acute gastrointestinal bleeding is one of the critical emergencies with good prognosis if properly managed. Combination of drug has had the best possible clinical results to stabilize the hemodynamic status of these patients. Therefore, in this study, the short-term consequences of simultaneous administration of vasopressin and tranexamic acid were compared.
Methods: In this double-blind clinical trial study that was conducted from November 2018 to November 2019 at Valiasr Hospital in Arak 120 eligible patients with acute gastrointestinal bleeding were included. Patients were divided into four groups of 30. In the first group (TXA) the common treatment with tranexamic acid was first infused at the rate of 10mg/kg as an initial dose over 20 minutes and then received to 1mg/kg per hour as a maintenance dose for up to four hours. The second group (VP group) received common treatment with infusion of 30 units per hour for six hours. The third group (R group) received only conventional treatments and the fourth group (TXA+VP group) received both tranexamic acid and vasopressin along with conventional treatment. The amount of light blood lose and vital signs including blood pressure and heart rate and Hg, BUN , CR , NA, K, BS, PT, PTT, INR were checked.

Results: In this study, the vasopressin group had a greater decrease in hemoglobin (p≤0.05), the increase in blood urea was less in the two groups that received vasopressin than the other two groups (p≤0.05). The group of tranexamic acid had much better conditions than the group of vasopressin, in terms of hematochezia or hematemesis interruption, need for blood transfusion, re-bleeding, need for endoscopy and emergency surgery, and adding vasopressin to tranexamic acid also led to improved outcomes (p≤0.05). Conclusion: It seems that the concurrent use of tranexamic acid and vasopressin in upper gastrointestinal bleeding improves renal function and stops bleeding and reduces the risk of re-bleeding, the need for blood transfusion and endoscopic and surgical intervention. Its long-term results need further study.