[Clinical manifestations and diagnosis of patients with sarcoidosis]

We reviewed the records of new patients with uveitis who visited the Hokkaido University Hospital between 1991 and 1994. For the diagnosis of sarcoidosis, we used the criteria revised by the Diffuse Pulmonary Disease Research Committee of Japan in 1989. The total number of patients was 374, and 61 cases were diagnosed as sarcoidosis. Of 61 patients with sarcoidosis, 58 cases were diagnosed histologically. Transbronchial lung biopsy was the basis for 70% of the histological diagnosis. After the revision of the criteria of sarcoidosis, the percentage of histological diagnosis increased. The Diffuse Pulmonary Disease Research Committee of Japan also proposed guidelines for the diagnosis of ocular sarcoidosis in 1990. We applied these guidelines to our uveitis patients. Most of the patients (77.1%) with sarcoidosis were included in the group of probable sarcoidosis, but 20% of patients with uveitis who were not diagnosed as having sarcoidosis were also included in this group. These guidelines are not yet adequate.