Sarcoidosis
What is sarcoidosis?
What causes sarcoidosis?
Who gets sarcoidosis?
What are its symptoms?
What is sarcoidosis?
Sarcoidosis is an inflammatory disease that starts in the lungs and is characterized by granulomas (small rounded outgrowths made up of blood vessels, cells and connective tissues) that can produce many different symptoms. They are called granulomas because they look like grains of sugar or sand. These tiny granulomas can grow and clump together. If too many granulomas form in an organ, they can affect how the organ works.
Sarcoidosis can occur in almost any part of the body, although it affects some organs more than others. It usually starts in either the lungs or lymph nodes, especially the lymph nodes in the chest cavity.
Sarcoidosis is generally a chronic (long-term) disease, lasting for several years or a lifetime. Some people, however, may have a type that only lasts a few months.
What causes sarcoidosis?
It is believed that sarcoidosis develops when a person's immune system overreacts to something in the environment (bacteria, viruses, dust, chemicals) or perhaps mistakenly turns on the body's healthy cells (autoimmunity). Although the exact reason for this overreaction is unknown, suspected causes include:
- A viral or bacterial infection
- A defect in the body's immune system
- An unidentified toxic substance
- An unknown environmental cause
- An inherited or genetic factor
Who gets sarcoidosis?
Sarcoidosis was once thought to be an uncommon condition, but it is now known to affect tens of thousands of people. Sarcoidosis can occur at any age, but it is most common in young adults between age 20 and 40, with 70 percent of patients being under age 40. African Americans and people of Scandinavian, German or Irish descent are particularly at risk. Although sarcoidosis affects white men and women about equally, African-American women get the disease twice as often as African-American men.
What are its symptoms?
Sometimes sarcoidosis develops gradually and produces symptoms that last for years. It also may appear suddenly and then disappear just as quickly. In either case, symptoms can vary, depending on which organs are affected and how long a person has had the disease.
Sarcoidosis that affects only the lungs, for example, may cause few, if any, symptoms. Many people do not know they have the disease until it shows up on a routine chest x-ray. More advanced forms of the disease may cause shortness of breath and a cough that won't go away.
Other signs and symptoms of sarcoidosis include:
- A vague feeling of discomfort and fatigue and an overall feeling of ill health
- Fever, night sweats
- Sleep problems
- Loss of appetite or weight loss
- Small red bumps on your face, arms or buttocks, a condition more common in blacks than in whites
- Red, watery eyes
- Arthritis in the ankles, elbows, wrists and hands, commonly associated with bumps in the skin over the shins (erythema nodosum)
How to treat Sarcoidosis
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