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Subcutaneous sarcoidosis: a clinical analysis of nine patients

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Abstract

Subcutaneous sarcoidosis is the specific subset of cutaneous sarcoidosis frequently associated with systemic disease. However, the disease activity, severity, and prognosis have not yet been elucidated due to the limited number of reported cases. The purpose of this study was to identify the clinical, laboratory, and prognostic differences between subcutaneous sarcoidosis and other type of cutaneous sarcoidosis. All patients with sarcoidosis diagnosed histopathologically from 2000 to 2012 at our institution were enrolled. The clinical, laboratory, chest X-ray, and pulmonary function test results were retrospectively evaluated in the patients with cutaneous sarcoidosis. In the 130 patients with sarcoidosis, cutaneous sarcoidosis was diagnosed in 37 patients (28.4 %), and 9 (6.9 %) of these patients had subcutaneous sarcoidosis. The serum levels of soluble interleukin-2 receptor (sIL-2R) were significantly elevated in the group of patients with subcutaneous sarcoidosis in comparison to the patients with other types of cutaneous sarcoidosis, whereas there was no significant difference in the severity score between the two groups. Following a 2-year observation period, three patients were in remission, five patients demonstrated stable disease, and one patient had progressive disease. Subcutaneous sarcoidosis may be associated with the disease activity, although it was not found to be associated with the disease severity and it was not a predictive factor for the prognosis. Furthermore, the prevalence of subcutaneous sarcoidosis may be higher than that in previously reported series.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Professor Tsuda T and Kumamoto T, MD, PhD, Department of Internal Medicine III and his team for performing broncofiberoscopy with BAL, and also Professor Fujiwara S, MD, PhD, Department of Dermatology and his team for performing skin biopsies and valuable assistance in the cutaneous histopathological records.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Respiratory Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Oita University, Faculty of Medicine, 1-1 Idaigaoka, Hasama-machi, Yufu, Oita, 879-5593, Japan

    Masaru Ando, Suehiro Nishio, Chihiro Torigoe, Mari Yamasue, Yutaka Mukai, Shin-ichi Nureki & Jun-ichi Kadota

  2. Center for Community Medicine, Oita University, Faculty of Medicine, 1-1 Idaigaoka, Hasama-machi, Yufu, Oita, 879-5593, Japan

    Eishi Miyazaki

  3. Department of Dermatology, Oita University, Faculty of Medicine, 1-1 Idaigaoka, Hasama-machi, Yufu, Oita, 879-5593, Japan

    Yutaka Hatano

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  1. Masaru Ando
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  2. Eishi Miyazaki
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  3. Yutaka Hatano
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  5. Chihiro Torigoe
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  6. Mari Yamasue
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  7. Yutaka Mukai
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  9. Jun-ichi Kadota
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Correspondence to Masaru Ando.

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This study was approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee approval of Oita University (no. 760).

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Ando, M., Miyazaki, E., Hatano, Y. et al. Subcutaneous sarcoidosis: a clinical analysis of nine patients. Clin Rheumatol 35, 2277–2281 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-016-3356-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-016-3356-0

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