Morphological Patterns of Sarcoidosis and Clinical Outcome: Retrospective Analysis through a Multidisciplinary Approach
Giulio Distefano,
Ada Vancheri,
Monica Palermo,
Francesco Tiralongo,
Pietro Valerio Foti,
Letizia Antonella Mauro,
Carlo Vancheri,
Antonio Basile,
Stefano Palmucci
Affiliations
Giulio Distefano
Radiology Unit 1, Department of Medical Surgical Sciences and Advanced Technologies “GF Ingrassia”–University Hospital “Policlinico-Vittorio Emanuele”, University of Catania, 95123 Catania, Italy
Ada Vancheri
Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Catania, Regional Referral Centre for Rare Lung Disease, 95123 Catania, Italy
Monica Palermo
Radiology Unit 1, Department of Medical Surgical Sciences and Advanced Technologies “GF Ingrassia”–University Hospital “Policlinico-Vittorio Emanuele”, University of Catania, 95123 Catania, Italy
Francesco Tiralongo
Radiology Unit 1, Department of Medical Surgical Sciences and Advanced Technologies “GF Ingrassia”–University Hospital “Policlinico-Vittorio Emanuele”, University of Catania, 95123 Catania, Italy
Pietro Valerio Foti
Radiology Unit 1, Department of Medical Surgical Sciences and Advanced Technologies “GF Ingrassia”–University Hospital “Policlinico-Vittorio Emanuele”, University of Catania, 95123 Catania, Italy
Letizia Antonella Mauro
Radiology Unit 1, Department of Medical Surgical Sciences and Advanced Technologies “GF Ingrassia”–University Hospital “Policlinico-Vittorio Emanuele”, University of Catania, 95123 Catania, Italy
Carlo Vancheri
Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Catania, Regional Referral Centre for Rare Lung Disease, 95123 Catania, Italy
Antonio Basile
Radiology Unit 1, Department of Medical Surgical Sciences and Advanced Technologies “GF Ingrassia”–University Hospital “Policlinico-Vittorio Emanuele”, University of Catania, 95123 Catania, Italy
Stefano Palmucci
Radiology Unit 1, Department of Medical Surgical Sciences and Advanced Technologies “GF Ingrassia”–University Hospital “Policlinico-Vittorio Emanuele”, University of Catania, 95123 Catania, Italy
The aim of this work was to verify the correlations between different pulmonary morphological patterns and functional outcomes in sarcoidosis patients, using a validated score for the comparison between the high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) of patients belonging to different imaging patterns. From the electronic database of the reference center for interstitial lung diseases of our University Hospital, we retrospectively selected 55 patients with a diagnosis of sarcoidosis according to the American Thoracic Society (ATS) criteria; we evaluated the initial HRCT examination and pulmonary function tests collected at baseline and after a year. Patients were divided into typical (48% of patients) and atypical (52%) HRCT patterns, and a computer tomography activity score (CTAS) was associated with each HRCT appearance detected; clinical history, impact of therapy, and extra-thoracic locations were also considered. We found that worsening of diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide (DLCO) is related to the CTAS (r = −0.20, p = 0.01), and there was an inverse correlation between the variation of forced vital capacity (FVC) and the value of the CTAS (r = −0.30, p = 0.23) in the subgroup of patients with atypical patterns. CTAS were higher in patients with extra-pulmonary localizations (p = 0.05) and the subgroup of patients with extra-thoracic locations and atypical manifestations had a greater worsening in terms of variation of FVC (p = 0.03) and DLCO% (p = 0.04). No difference between treated and untreated patients was found.
