Sarcoidosis Health Video

Sarcoidosis, or Besnier-Boeck disease, is an immune system disorder that appears in various organs. Learn more about sarcoidosis in this health video.

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Use anti-inflammatory medications
Consult a doctor

About this Author

Dr. Susan McGladdery is a medical graduate from Oxford University in the UK and has a Master's Degree in Medical Sciences from Cambridge University. She has been a member of the Royal College of Physicians since 1991 and a member of the American Academy of Urgent Care since 2006. She trained as a Family Physician in the UK in Oxford and then in London. In a medical career that spans over 20 years, she has worked as a doctor in 5 countries on 3 continents and cared for patients from a multitude of different nationalities and backgrounds. Dr. McGladdery joined FirstMed Centers in mid 2002 and became Regional Medical Director in 2003.

DR. SUSAN L. MCGLADDERY: Hello my name is Dr. Susan l. McGladdery, I am the Medical Director from First Med Centers in Budapest, Hungary. I'd like to give you some information about sarcoidosis. This is an inflammatory disease. It starts usually in the lungs but it can affect virtually any organ in your body including the liver, the skin, the heart, the nervous system and even the eyes. Some people have signs and symptoms related to just one organ. For example shortness of breath when there are lung problems. Other people just have a vague feeling of illness or no signs or symptoms at all. Sarcoidosis can affect anyone, although it mainly affects adults between the ages of 20 and 40 years. People from Scandinavian countries and Black Americans are particularly at risk. Blacks are more likely to have severe chronic symptoms than are white skin people. Doctors believe that sarcoidosis results from an abnormality in the immune response but the trigger for this is not known. Often it goes away without any treatment usually within 2 or 3 years but for some people they may have symptoms for a lifetime. Rarely sarcoidosis can cause a very serious illness which can even result in death. How do you that you have this condition? Well often its picked up as a incidental finding on chest x-ray or your doctor may be suspicious if you have one of the following symptoms such as fatigue, unexplained fever, weight loss, breathlessness, or persistent cough that goes on for weeks or even months particularly if this is accompanied by raised bumps on the skin or joint pains. Once the diagnosis is made, if you have no particular signs or symptoms, or just very mild symptoms due to the sarcoidosis it's possible just to wait and see what happens and delay starting any treatment, but for those people who have more severe or progressive symptoms, in that case it's important to treat with strong anti-inflammatory medications and in this case you'll need to have regular follow ups with your doctor to make sure that your sarcoidosis is adequately controlled.

Sarcoidosis Health Video

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