Correlation between cutaneous sarcoidosis and systemic sarcoidosis

Abstract

Twenty patients with cutaneous sarcoidosis and 21 patients carrying isolated skin sarcoids were studied. (We use the term 'sarcoid' to emphasize that exclusively skin was altered.) Both groups were compared by clinical and histological patterns and certain data concerning the state of the mononuclear phagocyte system (MPS). It was found that skin lesions in sarcoids and sarcoidosis do not differ regarding either in clinical or histological manifestations. The changes in the functional activity of monocytes and macrophages were the same. The data obtained allow us to suggest that sarcoids should be regarded as a systemic disease connected with changes in the MPS reaction.