Five years experience of Sarcoidosis at a tertiary care centre in Pakistan

Objective: To review the medical records of patients diagnosed with sarcoidosis for sociodemographic characteristics, clinical presentation, mode of diagnosis, and stage of disease at a tertiary care centre of Pakistan. Method: The medical records of 47 patients consecutively diagnosed with sarcoidosis from 2003 to 2008 were reviewed retrospectively. The sociodemographic characteristics, clinical presentation, mode of diagnosis, organs involved, stage of disease and follow up were reviewed. Results: Out of 47 patients, 26 (55%) were female and 21 male. Cough and shortness of breath were the main presenting symptoms. Mode of diagnosis was gallium scan in 27 patients, biopsy in 16 patients and High Resolution CT scan in 3 patients. Asymptomatic patients at presentation did not require any treatment and did well on follow up. Eighteen patients required steroid therapy which was slowly tapered off. Two patients required azathioprin in addition to steroids. Conclusion: Sarcoidosis is a diagnostic challenge in countries where tuberculosis is endemic, however physicians still need to keep sarcoidosis in the differential diagnosis due to clinical, histological and radiological similarities between the two conditions.