Sarcoidosis
Background
- Abnormal collection of inflammatory cells (granulomas) throughout the body.
- Most common location for granulomas to occur are the lung, skin, heart, and brain.
- Exact cause unknown - thought to be related to an immune reaction to a prior insult such as infection or chemical exposure earlier in life.
- Do not confuse with infectious granulomatous processes such as tuberculosis.
Sarcoid Xray - hilar adenopathy
Clinical Features
Depend on location of granulomata. May be entirely asymptomatic.
- Respiratory
- Due to pulmonary granulomata
- Shortness of breath
- Cough
- Pulmonary hypertension
- Pulmonary abscesses/empyema
- Pneumothorax
- Erythema nodosum and other skin lesions
- Fatigue
- Weight loss
- Arthralgias
- Cardiopulmonary
- Restrictive cardiomyopathy
- Arrhythmias due to conduction disturbance
- Endocrine
- Ocular
- Dacryoadenitis (lacrimal duct inflammation)
- Optic neuritis
- Iritis
Differential Diagnosis
- Malignancy
- Tuberculosis
- Coccidioidomycosis
- Histiocytosis X
- Wegener's granulomatosis
- Churg-Strauss syndrome
- Lupus
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Polymyalgia rheumatica
Workup
- Definitive initial diagnosis unlikely to be made in ED, but may be suggested by typical granulomatous lesions seen on CT or other imaging in setting of appropriate clinical context
- Evaluate for complications/alternative diagnoses of presenting symptoms
Management
- Corticosteroids
- Treat complications
Disposition
- Dependant on presentation
See Also
External Links
References
This article is issued from
Wikem.
The text is licensed under Creative
Commons - Attribution - Sharealike.
Additional terms may apply for the media files.