Interstitial Lung Disease

Sarcoidosis

Signs and Symptoms
Diagnosis
Treatment

Signs and Symptoms

Sarcoidosis is a disorder that causes inflamed tissue called nodules or granulomas to develop in the body's organs, most often the lungs. It can also affect the skin, eyes, nose, muscles, heart liver, spleen, bowel, kidney, testes, nerves, lymph nodes and brain. Nodules in the lungs can lead to narrowing of the airways and inflammation, also called fibrosis, of lung tissue.

Sarcoidosis affects people of all ages, races and gender, though it most commonly occurs in people between 20 to 40 years old. Children are rarely diagnosed with the disease. In very few cases, more than one family member is affected. African Americans are three to four times more likely to have sarcoidosis and may have a more severe form of the disease than people of European descent.

Symptoms of sarcoidosis may differ in each person and depends on the organs affected. Frequently, the condition causes mild symptoms and resolves on its own without treatment. In approximately half of all patients, sarcoidosis is detected on a routine chest X-ray before any symptoms develop. The most common symptoms of sarcoidosis involving the lungs include:

• Cough
• Shortness of breath
• Chest pain, which is usually a vague tightness of the chest, but can occasionally be severe and similar to the pain of a heart attack
• Fatigue
• Weakness
• Fever
• Weight loss

Reviewed by health care specialists at UCSF Medical Center.
Last updated May 8, 2007