Published 28 August 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b3206
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b3206

Clinical Review

Sarcoidosis

Owen J Dempsey, consultant chest physician1, Edward W Paterson, specialist registrar in respiratory medicine1, Keith M Kerr, professor of pulmonary pathology2, Alan R Denison, clinical senior lecturer3

1 Department of Respiratory Medicine, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, Foresterhill, Aberdeen AB25 2ZN, 2 Aberdeen University Medical School, Foresterhill, Aberdeen AB25 2ZD , 3 Aberdeen Biomedical Imaging Centre, University of Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, Foresterhill, Aberdeen AB25 2ZD

Correspondence to: O J Dempsey owen.dempsey@nhs.net

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.


Sarcoidosis is a multisystem granulomatous disease of unknown cause, typically affecting young and middle aged adults
Three thousand new cases are diagnosed each year in the United Kingdom
Any organ can be affected—mostly lungs, skin, and eyes—and patients often feel tired and generally unwell
Most patients do not need systemic treatment, and disease often regresses spontaneously, especially in those presenting with erythema nodosum
A minority have potentially life threatening progressive organ dysfunction; these patients need active management including oral corticosteroids


Around 3000 new cases of sarcoidosis are diagnosed each year in the United Kingdom.1 General practitioners play a key role in the early recognition of the most common clinical presentations of this multifaceted disease, and they usually direct initial assessment and specialist referral. Although prognosis is excellent for most patients, a minority will develop life threatening complications and may need potentially toxic treatments. Most patients are young and understandably alarmed . . . [Full text of this article]


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to StumbleUpon StumbleUpon   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Articles

Technique to enable diagnosis
Andrew R L Medford, Sanjay Agrawal, and Jonathan A Bennett
BMJ 2009 339: b3962. [Extract] [Full Text]

Prognosis in sarcoidosis.
J T Macfarlane
Br Med J (Clin Res Ed) 1984 288: 1557-1558. [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Medford, A. R L, Agrawal, S., Bennett, J. A (2009). Technique to enable diagnosis. BMJ 339: b3962-b3962 [Full text]  

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Sarcoidosis and low vitamin D?
Thor Hilberg
bmj.com, 4 Sep 2009 [Full text]
Should one consider tuberculosis if clubbing is present?
Angshu Bhowmik
bmj.com, 13 Sep 2009 [Full text]
missing new science
Roswitha E. Goetze-Pelka
bmj.com, 17 Sep 2009 [Full text]
EBUS can be helpful in diagnosis
Andrew RL Medford, et al.
bmj.com, 19 Sep 2009 [Full text]
Pulmonary Hypertension in a standard investigation of Sarcoidosis Patients
Roberto Carbone, et al.
bmj.com, 19 Sep 2009 [Full text]
Sarcoidosis and the nose
David P Crampsey
bmj.com, 28 Sep 2009 [Full text]
Sarcoidosis - response from authors
Owen J Dempsey, et al.
bmj.com, 1 Oct 2009 [Full text]
Sarcoidosis
Jerome M Reich
bmj.com, 13 Oct 2009 [Full text]
Comments on sarcoidosis review
Jerome M Reich
bmj.com, 10 Nov 2009 [Full text]
Access jobs at BMJ Careers
Whats new online at Student BMJ