Sarcoidosis
Sarcoidosis is an uncommon autoimmune disorder of unknown cause. It has been variously connected with exposure to environmental toxins, environmental mycobacteria, and herpes zoster, among many possible factors. It is also thought that there may be a hereditary factor. The disease is characterised by the presence of non-caseating granulomas which can appear almost anywhere in the body but usually appear in either the lungs or the lymph nodes. It can occasionally appear suddenly but more often than not appears gradually. Sarcoidosis can sometimes have the appearance of tuberculosis(itself a mycobacteria).
Sarcoidosis is more commonly seen in blacks than whites, primarily people of northern European decent in the latter case. Pulmonary (lung) involvement is the most common presentation of sarcoidosis.
Sarcoidosis is most often manifested as a restrictive disease of the lungs, causing a decrease in lung volume and decreased compliance (the ability to stretch). The vital capacity (full breath in, to full breath out) is decreased, and most of this air can be blown out in the first second. This means the FEV1/FVC ratio is increased from the normal of about 80%, to 90%.
However, it can have systemic effects, including skin lesions, renal, liver and heart involvement, nueropathy (damage to the nerves or brain, in particular damage to the peripheral nerves causing numbness. It may also occasionally cause uveitis, leading to retinal inflammation which incurs loss of visual accuity.
Treatment is generally with corticosteroids, most commonly prednisone, although the use of corticosteroids in mild disease has been the subject of mounting doubt. Severe disease is treated with steroids, and later with steroid-sparing agents. As the granuloma are caused by collections of immune system cells, particularly T cells, there has been some indications of success using immunosuppressants, interluekin 2 inhibitors, anti-tumor necrosis factor, and some monoclonal antibody therapies. Unfortunately, there are no conclusive results.
This article is a stub. You can help BambooWeb by .
