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