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[The treatment and prognosis of sarcoidosis. Apropos 53]
J Castañé1, M Rodríguez-Carballeira, A Ochoa
1Servicio de Medicina Interna, Hospital Mútua de Terrassa, Barcelona.
Objective:
We retrospectively studied 53 cases of sarcoidosis which have been diagnosed at our service during de last 14 years. The criteria for starting therapy with corticosteroids and recurrences were analyzed.
Method:
The patients mean (SD) age was 42 (15) years old (range 16-76) and the majority were female (72%). 15 patients (28.3%) received corticosteroids. The only differences with respect to patients not treated were the presence of respiratory symptoms (47% vs 18%; p = 0.04) and the abnormality of spirometric parameters (DLCO/VA p = 0.01; CV p = 0.002).
Results:
17 (32%) patients recurred. 14 (82%) of them required corticosteroids. This percentage was significantly greater than that of patients treated at first episode (82% vs 28%, p = 0.0002). All patients improved with treatment. The only difference with respect to patients without recurrences were to be treated at the first episode (53% vs 17%, p = 0.007).