MIKULICZ'S病に関する1考察

抄録

MIKULICZ's disease was discussed on the basis of a review of the literature and the author's three cases.
The MIKULICZ's disease entity has long been a big topic of discussion and confusion since the original report by MIKULICZ, because many cases manifesting enlargement of the salivary or lacrimal glands were diagnosed as MIKULICZ's disease. MIKULICZ's disease was usually characterized by chronic, painless enlargement of one or more of the salivary or lacrimal glands of unknown etiology in contrast to MIKULICA's syndrome caused by syphilis, leukemia, tuberculosis, sarcoidosis and other disorders.
MIKULICA's disease is similar to SJÖGREN'S syndrome from the following viewpoints: their clinical nature and cause; the tendency to occur in middle-aged women; and the histopathological findings in the salivary and lacrimal glands.
Accordingly, this condition would be thought to be a variant of SJÖGREN'S syndrome as described by MORGAN, and histologically a better name for this condition may be “Idiopathic Chronic Sialoadenitis”. The so-called MIKULICZ's syndrome is just a clinical manifestation of one of the many underlying systemic diseases, so the author recommends the term “syndrome” must be erased from the medical literature. For swelling of the salivary glands, surgical procedures or drug treatment is more preferable than irradiation therapy.