Pathology

Abstract

Sarcoidosis is a multisystem granulomatous disease of unknown cause that is characterized by enhanced cellular hypersensitivity at sites of involvement. The lesions of sarcoidosis may be confined to one organ or disseminated widely. Autopsy studies show that asymptomatic sarcoidosis is much more common than is realized clinically (Hager- strand and Linell 1964). Lymph nodes, the lungs, liver, spleen, skin and eyes are the organs most commonly affected, but virtually any part of the body may be involved. The distribution of the lesions is consistent with the lungs being the portal of entry of an unknown causative agent, the lymph nodes being affected by lymphatic spread from the lungs, and other organs being involved by a combination of lymphatic and blood spread, a situation entirely analogous with that in tuberculosis.