Gastric sarcoidosis: case report and literature review

Sarcoidosis involving the gastrointestinal tract is extremely rare. Clinically recognizable gastrointestinal system involvement occurs in 0.1% to 0.9% of patients with sarcoidosis. We encountered a 22-year-old African American female admitted to Johns Hopkins Hospital (Baltimore, Maryland) for a 2-week history of fever, chills, eye pain, and abdominal pain. Her abdominal CT scan showed multiple subcentimeter retroperitoneal lymph nodes. An upper endoscopy was performed and discovered an antral nodule that measured about 7 mm and antral gastritis in which biopsies showed active chronic necrotizing granulomatous gastritis. Biopsies of the antral polyp showed focal intestinal metaplasia and active chronic necrotizing granulomatous pattern. Stains for Helicobacter pylori, acid fast, and fungi were negative. A small-bowel series showed no abnormality. Ophthalmologic evaluation revealed panuveitis with bilateral optic disc edema. The patient was later prescribed 60 mg of prednisone by mouth once a day and subsequently her abdominal pain and fever resolved during follow-up 2 months later. This literature review demonstrates the importance in the diagnosis, pathophysiology, clinical manifestations, types of gastric sarcoidosis, major endoscopic findings, and management of gastric sarcoidosis.