The Heart in Sarcoidosis

Sarcoidosis

“…Pericardial effusion (see below) has been recorded during life (Schiff et al, 1969;Gozo et al, 1971). Matsui et al (1976) in their 41 necropsy cases noted that visible nodules were frequent in the epicardium, but were seen in the pericardium in only three cases, haernorrhagic pericardial effusion being present in one.…”

“…In view of the possibility of widespread changes in the myocardium, sometimes confluent in the upper part of the interventricular septum, and in many cases irregularly scattered in all four chambers of the heart, it is not surprising that all grades of heart block and varieties of arrhythmia have been reported both in studies of large series of cases (Fleming, 1974;Roberts et al, 1978), and in surveys of published cases (Gozo et al, 1971).…”

Utility of gallium-67 scintigraphy for evaluation of cardiac sarcoidosis with ventricular tachycardia

“…Among autopsied cases, 78% of patients with sarcoidosis showed cardiac lesions [1]. Cardiac involvement has been detected with increasing frequency and is associated with a poor prognosis [2][3][4][5][6]. A previous study found sudden death to be the most common manifestation of cardiac sarcoidosis [7].…”

Lichenoid Sarcoidosis with Myocardial Involvement

“…Simple T-wave changes are the most common electrocardiographic alterations [4]. Excluding non-specific T-wave abnormalities, conduction disturbances are the most common clini cal manifestation of primary cardiac involvement [3], The conduction defect in myocardial sarcoidosis may be transient, although it is more often permanent [1], Partial or complete bundle branch block is characteristic [7], Ventricular arrhythmias are the second most frequent findings in the form of multifocal, premature, ventricular beats [1], Sinus tachycardia is also quite often reported [4,5]. In a patient with proved systemic sarcoidosis, these electrocardiographic findings, over a period of 2 years, make the case quite compatible with F riedberg's statement: 'The diagnosis of cardiac sarcoidosis is suggested by heart failure of obscure origin in a patient proved to have sarcoidosis [2]'.…”