Symptomatic Gastric Sarcoidosis in a Patient with Pulmonary and Neurosarcoidosis: A Case Report

BACKGROUND Sarcoidosis is an inflammatory condition with multisystem involvement of unknown etiology that is characterized by noncaseating granulomas. Gastrointestinal (GI) involvement of sarcoidosis is not commonly seen in patients with extrapulmonary disease but can result in luminal narrowing, ulceration, and, less commonly, bleeding and obstruction. Patients that present with symptomatic gastric sarcoidosis are extremely rare. Definitive diagnosis can be challenging due to the need for endoscopic biopsy, which may not be performed if the diagnosis is not considered. Biopsy may be falsely negative due to the patchy mucosal involvement of this disease. CASE REPORT This case describes a 38-year-old mixed-race man who presented to the Emergency Department with GI symptoms including nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain, which persisted after being recently discharged from an outside hospital. The patient had a known history of multisystem sarcoid including pulmonary and neurosarcoidosis, and was maintained on immunosuppressive therapy. The patient underwent upper endoscopy with biopsy confirming a new diagnosis of gastric sarcoidosis. CONCLUSIONS There is an important role for early endoscopy in the diagnosis of patients with symptomatic gastric sarcoidosis to facilitate early treatment initiation and escalation or titration of immunosuppressive therapy, especially in patients with a known history of sarcoidosis with extrapulmonary involvement. The described endoscopic appearance of gastric sarcoidosis is variable in the published literature; endoscopic biopsy is therefore essential to diagnosing this disease. This type of disease progression should be considered in all sarcoid patients with persistent GI symptoms that do not resolve with conservative management, including those who are already on established immunosuppressive therapy.