Upper respiratory tract involvement of sarcoidosis in the Turkish population

Abstract

Principles and methods: Upper respiratory tract (URT) involvement is rare in sarcoidosis. In this descriptive study, we retrospectively evaluated the clinical and demographic features of 12 (2.19%) patients with URT involvement out of the 546 sarcoidosis patients with follow-up visits at our center within the last 40-year period.

Results: Out of the 546 patients, 12 (2.19%) had upper respiratory tract involvement, 5 (0.91%) had laryngeal involvement, 4 (0.73%) had sinonasal tract involvement, 2 (0.36) patients had salivary gland involvement, and 1 patient had tonsillary involvement. The number of stage 0 subjects among other sarcoidosis patients was significantly lower than that among those with URT involvement.

Conclusions: URT involvement is rarely diagnosed in patients with systemic sarcoidosis. The most common site for URT involvement among the Turkish population is the larynx, followed by the sinonasal tract.

Ebm rating: C-4.