Sarcoidosis and So-Called Sarcoid Reactions

Abstract

Sarcoid reactions should be regarded not as typical isolated involvements of any one organ or system but as purely morphologic reactions having nothing in common with genuine sarcoidosis. In addition to leprosy, syphilis, leishmaniasis, berylliosis and malignant neoplasms, morphologic sarcoid and sarcoidlike reactions possibly may occur in many other maladies, some of them not ordinarily characterized morphologically by a granulomatous structure. The practitioner's task is to distinguish such sarcoid or sarcoidlike morphologic reactions from genuine sarcoidosis. The diagnosis of sarcoidosis can be made only on the grounds of the sum of clinical, roentgenologic, morphologic, immunologic and other data.