Background/Purpose: The Sjögren’s Foundation Clinical Practice Guidelines for Peripheral Nervous System (PNS) diagnosis, management and treatment in Sjögren’s brought to the fore a major issue with communication between clinicians in rheumatology and those in neurology. Nomenclature used by the two specialties often differs, hindering multi-specialty collaboration for clinical management, clinical trials, and clinical practice guidelines. 

Our goal was to bring neurologists and rheumatologists together to understand, define and align nomenclature used by specialists in connection with PNS involvement in Sjögren’s.

Methods: The Topic Review Group (TRG) for the Sjögren’s PNS Clinical Practice Guidelines was comprised of both rheumatologists and neurologists. The group met regularly by email, phone, and zoom to identify differences in terminology and definitions typically used by neurologists and rheumatologists and develop an aligned nomenclature to be used across these disciplines. The TRG nomenclature discussions involved terms for the PNS categories of mononeuropathy, large fiber neuropathy, small fiber neuropathy, demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy, ganglionopathy, vasculitic neuropathy, and autonomic nervous system neuropathy.

Results: An aligned nomenclature was created defining terminology used to describe specific peripheral neurological manifestations of Sjögren’s, including commonly used synonymous terms that could be used interchangeably. Definitions were crafted that rheumatologists and neurologists could agree upon. Twelve terms used to describe seven PNS categories were fully delineated. Additional information was included for each category on patient presentation, possible etiologies and diagnoses, pathologies, and evaluation.

Conclusion: Clear communication between specialists involved in Sjögren’s is paramount to good patient care. By identifying the nomenclature used by both specialties and ensuring alignment on what each specialty means by its use, collaboration among specialists is facilitated, clinical care improved, and involvement of non-traditional specialists needed for patient care and in clinical trials can be increased with greater success.

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ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/alignment-between-rheumatology-and-neurology-of-nomenclature-for-peripheral-nervous-system-neuropathies/