Pulmonary involvements of sarcoidosis

We reported about intrathoracic changes and prognosis of 686 patients with sarcoidosis diagnosed in our hospital between 1963 and 1988. We evaluated CT findings in 135 patients with sarcoidosis and found pulmonary involvements in 81. We analyzed CT findings according to the classification by Tuengerthal which classified radiographic findings combining ILO classification of pneumoconiosis and characteristic findings of bronchovascular sheath with sarcoidosis. The CT findings were as follows: small opacities (44 out of 81 cases, 54.3%), large opacities (37 cases, 46.7%). Additional findings were as follows: peribronchial marking (42 cases, 51.9%), contraction (17 cases, 21.0%), pleural involvement (9 cases, 11.1%), bulla (5 cases, 6.2%). The characteristic CT findings of serious sarcoidosis were extasis of bronchus, thickening of the bronchial wall, unclearness of vascular shadow, atelectasis and thickening of pleura. Concerning the prognosis of pulmonary involvement, according to age, patients younger than 30 years old at initial diagnosis were better than those of 30 years and over in terms of disappearance of pulmonary involvements. According to stage, patients of stage I and stage II were better than those of stage III. Among the patients we were able to observe chest X-ray findings during five years according to the character of shadow, ill-defined shadow of small opacities and rounded shadows of large opacities had a higher disappearance rate of pulmonary involvements than irregular shadows of large opacities, atelectasis and contraction.