[Sarcoidosis of the central and peripheral nervous system]

The authors report two cases of Besnier -Boeck- Schaumann sarcoidosis with a neurological presentation. The first case was a 25 year old woman with a 5 year history of polyneuritis affecting the cranial and spinal nerves with very low nerve conduction times and without any detectable visceral disease. The diagnosis was made by distal bronchial biopsy. The second case was of an elderly man with tremor, difficulty in keeping his balance and deafness with chronic meningitis. The diagnosis was made by proximal bronchial biopsy, chest X-Ray showing a benign hilar lymphoma. In the first case, therapy comprised two three months courses of high dose intravenous steroids followed by oral corticosteroid therapy tailing off over three weeks. In the second case, the same intravenous steroid therapy was relayed by continuous oral steroids. The therapeutic effect was spectacular in the first case, but incomplete in the second, the intravenous steroids seeming to be more effective than the oral steroids.