Sarcoidosis

Slide #14

This postmortem lung section came from a 28-year-old woman with a 3-year history of severe pulmonary sarcoidosis. She had developed diffuse reticulonodular densities in both lungs over a period of one and a half years. This was accompanied by increasing dyspnea and diminished exercise tolerance, despite steroid therapy. At her terminal admission she was hypoxic and hypercapneic despite intubation, and she suffered a cardiopulmonary arrest.

Questions

  1. The major pathologic lesions in this section are located where?
  2. The lymph node, in contrast to the tuberculous lymph node of Slide #4, shows what lesion(s)?
  3. What percentage of individuals with sarcoidosis pursue this type of clinical course?
  4. What other organs were likely to be involved histologically by this granulomatous process?
  5. If no historical information were provided about this case, based on the lung pathology alone, what differential diagnosis should be raised?