[The clinical analysis of 35 patients with cutaneous sarcoidosis]

To investigate clinical features of cutaneous sarcoidosis.

A retrospective analysis was carried out based on the clinic data of 35 patients with cutaneous sarcoidosis who were hospitalized in Peking Union Medical College Hospital during 1980 - 2009. They were divided into two groups, the group without systemic involvement (skin group) and the group with systemic involvement (systemic group).

(1) The ratio of men and women with cutaneous sarcoidosis was 1:3.38, and the average incident age was (47.5 ± 10.0) years old. The average incident age of skin group and systemic group were (41.8 ± 12.5) years old and (50.5 ± 7.1) years old, respectively. (2) The most common skin manifestation was subcutaneous nodule, followed by maculopapular and erythema nodosa. The most common involved sites were limbs. (3) The common involved systems extra-skin included the lung, joints and lymph nodes. The involvement rate of lung in cutaneous sarcoidosis of our present data was lower than those of foreign reports. However, the involvement rates of joints, lymph nodes, kidney, muscles and nervous system showed higher in our data. (4) The incidences of fatigue and weight loss in systemic group were higher than those in skin group (P < 0.05). The indexes of erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein and rheumatoid factor in systemic group were higher than those in skin group (P < 0.05). More patients in systemic group were treated with corticosteroid than that in skin group (95.7% vs 66.7%, P < 0.05).

Subcutaneous nodules are the most common and the involvement rate of lung is lower in cutaneous sarcoidosis of our present data. Compared to the patients without systemic involvement, the average incident age of systemic ones is older, the indexes of inflammation markers and the usage of corticosteroid are higher.