What's Sarcoidosis?

Sarcoidosis, also called sarcoid, is a disease involving abnormal collections of inflammatory cells (granulomas) that can form as nodules in multiple organs.^[1] The granulomas are most often located in the lungs or its associated lymph nodes, but any organ can be affected.^[2] Sarcoidosis seems to be caused by an immune reaction to an infection or some other trigger (called an antigen, which may be from one's environment) that continues even after the initial infection or other antigen is cleared from the body.^[3] In most cases it clears up by itself without any medical intervention, but some cases go on to affect the person long-term or become life-threatening and require medical intervention, most often with medications.^[2] The average mortality rate is less than 5% in untreated cases.^[4]
Treatment is usually designed to help relieve the symptoms and thus does not directly alter the course of the disease.^[5] This treatment usually consists of drugs like ibuprofen or aspirin.^[5] In cases where the condition develops to the point that it has a progressive and/or life-threatening course, the treatment is most often steroid treatment with prednisone or prednisolone.^[5] Alternatively, drugs that are most commonly used to treat cancer and suppress the immune system, such as methotrexate, azathioprine and leflunomide, may be used.^[5][6][7]
In the United States it most commonly affects people of Northern European (especially Scandinavian or Icelandic) or African (especially African American) ancestry between the ages of 20 and 29, although any race or age group can be affected.^[4] Japan has a lower rate of sarcoidosis than the United States, although in these people the disease is usually more aggressive in its course with the heart often affected.^[4] Japanese individuals also have a different peak age for sarcoidosis, 25–40 years of age.^[8] It occurs about twice as often in women, where it usually takes a more aggressive course.^[4] In developing countries it often goes misdiagnosed as tuberculosis (TB) as its symptoms often resemble those of TB.^[4]

Sarcoidosis was first described in 1877 by an English doctor named Dr. Jonathan Hutchinson as a skin disease causing red, raised lesions on the arms, face, and hands.^[9]