|
|
|
|
|
|
ACE
|
|
|
|
      |
|
|
Common Questions
|
| |
1. What other tests are used to diagnose sarcoidosis?
2. What causes sarcoidosis?
1. What other tests are used to diagnose sarcoidosis?
A variety of tests may be ordered, both to help diagnose sarcoidosis and to determine the degree of organ involvement. Laboratory tests may include a liver panel, CBC, and calcium (blood and urine – they tend to be elevated). Other tests may include a physical exam (for skin lesions) pulmonary function tests (about 90% of the time there will be some amount of lung involvement with sarcoidosis), bronchoscopy (passing a flexible tube that is used to look at the lining of the airway and to biopsy the lung), chest x-ray, and gallium screening (radioactive gallium is used to evaluate inflammation). Biopsies of the skin, lungs, lymph nodes, and sometimes liver may also be needed, as may a thorough eye exam. A test called a slit-lamp examination may be used.
2. What causes sarcoidosis?
The cause is not well understood. It is not contagious. It is inflammatory and involves the immune system. It appears to have a genetic component as well as an environmental one. It has been reported both in related and unrelated individuals living in the same area. About 10 – 40 people per 100,000 are affected in the U.S., the majority of them between 20 and 40 years old. In the U.S. and in the Caribbean, sarcoidosis is more common in those of African descent, but worldwide about 80% of those with sarcoidosis are white. It is relatively common in Scandinavia and Northern Ireland, but rare in China, Japan, and Africa. For some reason, those who have moved from a part of the world where the prevalence is low to a part of the world where it is high tend to take on the risk of the higher prevalence area.
|
|
|
This article was last reviewed on
March 5, 2008.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
