Sarcoidosis

Health and Nutrition > Diseases > S Reviewed by Dr Badal Pal, consultant rheumatologist

What is sarcoidosis?

Sarcoidosis is a disease that usually strikes in the lungs, although other organs, the skin, the lymph nodes, the heart, the spleen, the liver, the pancreas, the eyes, and the nervous system may also be involved.

It is a disease of the connective tissue which is accompanied by an increase of calcium in the blood.

The cause is unknown but it could be connected to environmental factors and there is a slight risk that it is hereditary.

The disease usually resolves itself spontaneously. It strikes men and women equally between the ages of 20 and 50 but can occur at any age.

What are the symptoms of sarcoidosis?

There are often no symptoms and the diagnosis may be made coincidentally after an X-ray examination of the chest. When there are symptoms they typically include:

- general unease
- slight fever
- weight loss
- breathlessness
- trouble with the joints
- sore spots on the skin
- infections that affect the iris of the eyes.

What can I do myself?

As the cause of the disease is unknown, it is not possible to prevent it. But since the lungs are involved, you should quit smoking and avoid inhaling fumes and dust.

How does the doctor make the diagnosis?

Enlarged lymph lumps around the respiratory channels can be detected with an X-ray.

Blood samples may also reveal increased levels of an enzyme and calcium.

Tissue samples taken from either the enlarged lymph glands or the skin, may also show changes.

How can the disease be treated?

As the disease often resolves itself, treatment may not be necessary. If it doesn't go away or becomes more severe and starts affecting other organs, the symptoms of the disease can be treated with adrenal cortex hormones (corticosteriods). It is not known whether this has a curative effect.

What is the outlook?

In most cases, the symptoms will disappear within two years with no permanent ill-effects and in two out of every three people with sarcoidosis this occurs without the need for active treatment.

A small group of patients will be ill for a longer period and be left with permanently reduced lung and possibly kidney function. If very severe, the mortality rate of sarcoidosis is less than 3 per cent, often due to heart failure.

What kinds of medicine can I use?