Pleural effusion in sarcoidosis: a case report

Pleural effusion is a well-recognized clinical entity that can be associated with sarcoidosis. Nevertheless, the real prevalence of this phenomenon remains to be established. This study describes the case of a 57-year-old male sarcoid patient who presented with right exudative pleural effusion, dyspnea on exertion, and bilateral pulmonary interstitial infiltrates. Sarcoidosis was diagnosed more than 2 years prior to the onset of pleural involvement. Pleural biopsy revealed the presence of typical sarcoid non caseating granulomas. Sarcoid involvement of the pleura resolved following a 1-month course of high doses of steroids and did not recur during a 18-month follow up. When we retrospectively analyzed clinical data obtained from 624 consecutive sarcoid patients who were referred to our hospital between January 1980 and June 1993 and examined for the presence of pleural involvement, the only patient who showed pleural effusion and histologically proven sarcoidosis of the pleura was the case here described. The frequency of the phenomenon in our series is 0.16%. We conclude that pleural effusion represents a rare event in sarcoidosis.