Extrapulmonary manifestations in sarcoidosis patients

Abstract

Introduction. Sarcoidosis is a systemic granulomatous disorder of unknown cause that predominantly affects the lungs, more commonly seen in young adults. Considering the systemic character of the disease and that a great proportion of patients with sarcoidosis don’t present any symptoms, it is important to actively screen for other organ involvement Aim of the study. To identify the rate of extrapulmonary manifestations in patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis. Materials and methods. We have analyzed 41 consecutive sarcoidosis patients admitted to the Institute of Pthisiopneumology Hospital, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova within 2017-2019 years. Results. In our study group the mean age was 54.5 ± 6.3 years, most of them were women (27 (68.8%)), predominantly non-smokers (39 (78%)). We found extrapulmonary manifestations in more than a half of patients (25 (60.9%)). 11 out of 25 (44%) had 2 extrapulmonary manifestations. The most frequent extrapulmonary manifestation was skin lesions, found in 13 (31.7%) cases, joints involvement manifested by arthralgia and joint pain has been registered in 7 (17%) cases. Other manifestations were: eye lesions –found in 4 (9.7%) patients, peripheral lymph nodes – 4 (9.7%) individuals, liver involvement manifested as hepatomegaly – in 2 (4.8%) cases, 3 (7.3%) patients had hypercalciuria, 3 (7.3%) patients had spleen enlargement and heart involvement – 1 (2.4%) patient. Although in our cohort all the patients had lung involvement, only 18 (41%) of them needed corticosteroid treatment for pulmonary lesions. Detecting other organs affected by sarcoidosis imposed corticosteroid treatment for other 11 (26.8%) patients Conclusions. Extrapulmonary lesions in sarcoidosis in our study group was a common finding, seen in more than a half of patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis. The most frequent extrapulmonary manifestion was the skin lesions seen in about 1/3 of patients. Recognizing extrapulmonary organs affected by sarcoidosis, indicating signs of organ damage, changed the management plan in almost a quarter of patients.