Retrospective evaluation of sarcoidosis cases: 10 years of experience from Turkey

Abstract

Aim: Clinical features in sarcoidosis are very variable and can present with numerous phenotypes depending on organ involvements, clinical onset (acute, subacute, and chronic) and response to therapy. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the clinical findings, diagnostic methods and treatments of patients with sarcoidosis by 10-years data in our hospital in Turkey.
Materials and Methods: The study was carried out between January 2018 and January 2019. The patients were screened retrospectively from the hospital information system. Clinical details were collected using a structured data collection form.
Results: 172 patients were included in our study. 122 (70.9%) were female and 50 (29.1%) were male. The mean age at diagnosis was
50.18 ± 13.73 years in all patients, while female patients’ mean age was 52.86 ± 13.06, male patients’ was 43.66 ± 13.24 (p <0.001). Arthralgia were more common in men than in women (30% vs 12.3%) (p:0.008). 70.9% of patients were diagnosed by EBUS-TBNA. Most of the patients were at the stage 1 (49.4%) and stage 2 (41.3%). Extra-pulmonary system involvements were detected in 27.3% of the cases. 27.9% (n:48) of the patients (n:172) did not come back for regular follow-ups. Among those who did do regular followups (n:124), 24.2% showed spontaneous remission, 30.6% showed stable disease, and 45.2% showed remission with treatment.
Conclusion: The general features of the patients were similar to those reported in the literature. In our cases, arthralgia was more common in males. Most significant finding of our study is that the diagnostic method of sarcoidosis seems to have changed after EBUS-TBNA.