Index of Pages
SARCOIDOSIS
What is known about
Sarcoidosis?
Sarcoidosis
is currently a medical mystery and being highly researched by the American
Lung Association and NORD. Most sarcoidosis patients do not even have
any symptoms and probably never know they have the disease, or how it developed.
Sarcoidosis is not contagious.
The disease can attack any organ of the body in any location. But it is most frequently found in the lungs. Pulmonary sarcoidosis can cause loss of lung volume, or the amount of air the lungs can hold, therefore causing abnormal lung stiffness. The disease is characterized by the presence of granulomas, small areas of inflamed cells. They can be either inside the body or on the body's exterior. They can appear on the walls of the alveoli, which are small air sacs in the lungs, or on the walls of the bronchioles, the breathing tubes in the lungs. These granulomatous lesions can also appear as sores on the face or bodily areas.
Symptoms of
Sarcoidosis?
Most sarcoidosis
patients have no symptoms at all. In pulmonary sarcoidosis, patients
may have a dry cough, shortness of breath, or mild chest pain. There also
can be fatigue and weakness. These symptoms are common in many other lung
diseases, so diagnosis may be a complex matter involving much testing.
In those cases where symptoms do appear outside the lung, they can include
a rash, like red bumps on the legs and shoulders, sometimes a fever, soreness
of the eyes, and pain and swelling of the ankles.
Sarcoidosis
Diagnosis
Any of the symptoms
listed in the previous section may lead a physician to consider sarcoidosis.
Sarcoidosis is initially diagnosed based on physical examination, laboratory
tests, pulmonary function studies, and chest X ray. When enlargement of lymph
glands in the center of the lungs is seen on the X ray, sarcoidosis may be
suspected. To confirm the diagnosis, a biopsy is usually performed on any
of the affected organs or from material in a granuloma on the
skin.
Is Sarcoidosis a Serious
Illness?
About 50% of
sarcoidosis patients improve spontaneously. The disease is fatal in less
than 5% of patients. In between the two extremes, patients have mild
to severe sarcoidosis, with various degrees of impairment or none at
all.
What Causes
Sarcoidosis?
This is a big
part of the mystery. No one knows. The causes put forth at various times
have been imaginative, to say the least. For instance, pine pollen, spray
deodorants or broken fluorescent light bulbs. None has stood the test of
time and analysis. Some physicians believe sarcoidosis results from
inhalation of an infectious or allergic substance from the environment. Others
believe that the disease is a basic problem in alteration of the cellular
immune system.
What Body Sites Does Sarcoidosis
Attack?
Ninety percent
of the cases of sarcoidosis are found in the lungs. Other sites are: skin,
liver, lymph glands, spleen eyes, nervous system, musculoskeletal system,
the muscles, and bones in the body, heart, brain, and
kidneys.
What Is the Common Course of
Sarcoidosis?
In most cases
of sarcoidosis that have no symptoms, the disease is believed to "burn itself
out," disappearing with little or no notice to the patient or physician.
If pulmonary sarcoidosis is serious, it can develop into pulmonary fibrosis,
which is the abnormal formation of fiber-like scar tissue in the lung. This
actually distorts the structure of the lungs and can interfere with breathing,
especially the ability to exchange oxygen in the lung.
Is The Treatment for Sarcoidosis
Helping?
In a majority
of patients, the disease spontaneously disappears, and no treatment is necessary.
Drugs called corticosteroids are the most important treatment used in fighting
sarcoidosis. Some physicians prescribe steroids when there are no symptoms
but just abnormalities seen on the chest X ray or in lung function measurements.
Other physicians wait for symptoms to appear before prescribing corticosteroids.
Sometimes the drugs are prescribed every day; at other times on alternate
days.
What Can the Sarcoidosis Patient
Do?
The sarcoidosis
patient should follow his or her doctor's directions. This frequently can
be just continuation of a normal lifestyle. When drugs are prescribed, they
should be taken faithfully, just as the physician directs. It is particularly
important that sarcoidosis patients do not smoke.
In Conclusion
Sarcoidosis,
which has an unknown cause, can be serious in some people. Generally though,
the disease is not serious, coming and going and then disappearing. In many
patients, sarcoidosis does not have symptoms. When there are granulomas,
corticosteroids are most often used to combat the inflammation. If you even
suspect you or someone you know has this illness, make sure to contact a
physician as soon as possible.
Index of
Pages
Bibliography & Credits:
American Lung Association
National Office of Rare Diseases (NORD)
The experience of a close friend of mine.