Spinal cord sarcoidosis: report of seven cases

Spinal cord involvement in sarcoidosis is rare, occurring in <1% of patients with sarcoidosis.

We report seven cases of spinal cord sarcoidosis, seen in two French hospitals over a 13-year period. Presentation of disease, methods of diagnosis and response to treatment, with quantification according to the reduction of the modified Rankin scale (MRS), were noted.

Six patients presented insidious paresthesias or weakness and one a sudden paraplegia. Average MRS at diagnosis was to 2. Spine MRI showed one or several intramedullary lesions in all cases. Diagnosis was confirmed by extra-neural tissue biopsies in all cases, including mediastinoscopy (two patients), coelioscopy (one patient), bronchoscopy (one patient), salivary gland biopsy (one patient) and skin biopsy (two patients). The average follow-up for the group was 49.4 months. All patients responded to corticosteroid therapy with a median reduction of MRS of one point. Five patients received immunosuppressive therapy: cyclophosphamide (two patients), methotrexate (two patients), azathioprine (one patient), mycophenolate mofetyl (one patient), with an inconstant benefit. Patients who received cyclophosphamide presented severe fungaemia.

Based on our study and literature analysis, we propose an algorithm for treatment of spinal cord sarcoidosis.