Lindsey Shapiro, PhD, science writer —

Among cardiac sarcoidosis (CS) patients treated with immunosuppressants, those with heart involvement alone can have poorer clinical outcomes than those whose sarcoidosis affects other organs along with the heart, according to a small study. Despite showing less heart inflammation before starting treatment, people with isolated CS (iCS) experienced higher…

Among people with sarcoidosis who failed to respond to earlier lines of treatment, the use of abatacept or tofacitinib — medications approved for other inflammatory conditions — appeared safe and effective, according to a Danish report. While neither abatacept (sold as Orencia in the U.S. and Europe) nor…

The activation of signaling pathways associated with immune B-cells may be a key feature that distinguishes sarcoidosis from tuberculosis, according to new research. Both conditions are characterized by the presence of granulomas, or small clumps of inflammatory cells, and can have similar clinical manifestations, such as uveitis, a type…

Involvement of the pericardium, a sac-like membrane that surrounds and protects the heart, is an uncommon manifestation of cardiac sarcoidosis that doctors should consider when there’s evidence of heart inflammation, a case report suggests about a woman who reported chest pain during a visit to a clinic. “This case…

High blood calcium levels, or hypercalcemia, may in rare cases be a symptom of sarcoidosis, according to a case report from Morocco. Steroid medications helped ease the symptom for a man with severe hypercalcemia as a main complication of sarcoidosis of the lungs, or pulmonary sarcoidosis, according to…

Being Black or having restrictive lung disease, where it’s hard to take in enough air in a breath, were factors that predicted faster lung function declines in people with pulmonary sarcoidosis in a recent U.S. study. “This study can inform future prospective studies to further explore pulmonary function phenotypes…

A woman who underwent a heart transplant for cardiac sarcoidosis later showed signs of sarcoidosis in the brain, a condition known as neurosarcoidosis, highlighting the need for better protocols to monitor and treat sarcoidosis patients after a transplant, scientists report. Immunosuppressive treatments helped to ease the woman’s neurological…

Nearly a quarter of sarcoidosis patients were found to have clinically silent cardiac involvement, in which standard heart symptoms are not observed, recent research indicated. Readily available cardiac screening tools, when used in combination, may help to rule out the presence of this hidden disease manifestation and avoid…

The percentage of natural killer (NK) immune cells in the airways were predictive of a more advanced stage of lung damage and multi-organ involvement in people with pulmonary sarcoidosis, according to a recent report. Altogether, the scientists believe these cells could be “a good prognostic marker” of a more…

Acthar Gel (repository corticotropin injection) may be a cost-effective approach relative to standard-of-care glucocorticoid therapy for adults with advanced active pulmonary sarcoidosis. That’s according to an analysis done by the therapy’s developer Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, which found that “the initial high cost of Acthar Gel treatment for sarcoidosis…