Sardoidosis
Brief Discussion
Confirmed by biopsy of lung, lymph node, and skin.
The most chacteristic HRCT abnormality in
patients with sarcoidosis consists of small nodules that are visible:
1.
In the peribronchovascular regions, adjacent to the parahilar
vessels and bronchi
2. adjacent to the major fissures
3. in the costal subpleural regions
4.
within the interlobular septa
5. in the centrilobular
regions.
Nodules visible on HRCT can appear as small
as a few millimeters in diameter; they tend to be sharply defined despite their
small size. An upper lobe predominance is common.
In sarcoidosis, nodules tend
to predominate in the peribronchovascular and subplerual regions; in
lymphangitic metastasis, nodules are most frequently septal and
peribronchovascular. Septal thickening in patients with sarcoidosis is usually
less extensive thant that seen in patients with lymphangitic metastasis and is
often associated with distortion of lobular architecture, a finding indicative
of fibrosis that is not seen with lymphangitic metastasis. However, these
differential features are not helpful in this case.