Sarcoidosis Information - Symptoms and It's Treatment

Definition

Sarcoidosis involves inflammation that produces tiny lumps of cells in various organs in your body. The lumps are known as granulomas because they look like grains of sugar or sand. They are very small and you can seen it only with a microscope. It is a multisystem, granulo, matous disorder that characteristically produces lymphadenopathy, pulmonary infiltration, and skeletal, liver, eye, or skin lesions. Chronic, progressive sarcoidosis, which is uncommon and it is associated with pulmonary fibrosis and progressive pulmonary disability. Pulmonary sarcoidosis can develop into pulmonary fibrosi, which distorts the structure of the lungs and can interfere with breathing. Bronchiectasis, a lung disease in which pockets form in the air tubes of the lung and become sites for infection, can also occur .

Causes of Sarcoidosis

The cause of sarcoidosis is unknown. But the following factors may include:

• Hypersensitivity response to such agents as atypical mycobacteria, fungi, and pine pollen
• Genetic predisposition
• Chemicals such as zirconium and beryllium, that can lead to illnesses resembling sarcoidosis, suggesting an extrinsic cause for this disease.

Symptoms of Sarcoidosis

Initial symptoms of sarcoidosis include:

• arthralgia such as in the wrists, ankles, and elbows)
• Fatigue
• Malaise
• Weight loss

Other clinical features vary according to the extent and location of the fibrosis:

• Respiratory such as breathlessness, cough, substernal pain; pulmonary hypertension and cor pulmonale
• Cutaneous such as erythema nodosum, subcutaneous skin nodules with maculopapular eruptions and extensive nasal mucosal lesions
• Ophthalmic such as anterior uveitis, glaucoma, and blindness
• Lymphatic - bilateral hilar and right paratracheal lymphadenopathy and splenomegaly
• Musculoskeletal - muscle weakness, polyarthralgia, pain, and punched-out lesions on phalanges
• Hepatic - granulomatous hepatitis, which usually produces no symptoms genitourinary - hypercalduria

Treatment of Sarcoidosis

Asymptomatic sarcoidosis requires no treatment. But sarcoidosis that causes ocular, respiratory, CNS, cardiac, or systemic symptoms requires treatment with systemic or topical steroids as does sarcoidosis that produces hypercalcemia or destructive skin lesions. Such therapy is usually continued for 1 to 2 years, but some patients may need lifelong therapy. Other measures include a low-calcium diet and avoidance of direct exposure to sunlight in patients with hypercalcemia. Other various possible treatment such as:

• If you have this disease, then you should use nutritious, high-calorie diet and plenty of fluids. If the patient has hypercalcemia, then you should use low calcium diet.
• You can also use steroids, it may induce or worsen diabetes mellitus, perform finger stick glucose tests at least every 12 hours at the beginning of steroid therapy. Also, watch for other steroid adverse effects, such as fluid retention, electrolyte imbalance, moon face, hypertension, and personality change. Remember that the patient on long-term or high dose steroid therapy is vulnerable to infection.