Atypical manifestations of sarcoidosis in a Hispanic male

Abstract

Sarcoidosis is a multisystem granulomatous disease of unknown etiology that can present with nonspecific features, often resulting in delayed diagnosis. The diagnosis requires the demonstration of non-caseating granulomas on biopsy. While the prevalence of sarcoidosis in the USA is rare, the disease is rarer yet in Hispanics. It is for this reason that we report herein the case of a Hispanic gentleman with a unique clinical manifestations of sarcoidosis. With what began as a two-month history of joint pain and skin rash, this 55-year-old man was hospitalized with multiple joint pain, weight loss, fatigue and a pruritic rash with leonine facies in the setting of anemia, leukopenia, hypercalcemia, elevated serum creatinine, and urine Bence-Jones proteinuria. CT imaging of the chest was nonspecific, but skin biopsy revealed non-caseating granulomatous disease. After completing an infectious and malignancy evaluation, the patient was diagnosed with sarcoidosis, which was treated successfully with low-dose steroid therapy.

Keywords

• Sarcoidosis
• hypercalcemia
• non-caseating granulomas
• leonine facies
• nephrocalcinosis