Neurosarcoidosis affecting the spinal cord

Abstract

Sarcoidosis is a chronic inflammatory disease that involves multiple systems. Complications in the nervous system are rare, especially in Asia. This report describes an unusual case of neurosarcoidosis affecting the spinal cord and other systems in a 53-year-old Taiwanese women patient. The patient presented with subacute onset of right arm radicular pain followed by quadriparesis. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed a hyperintense lesion on T2WI in the cervical spinal cord. The patient also had a history of facial neuropathy, bilateral parotid enlargement, intrathoracic lymphadenopathy, hypercalcemia, nephrocalcinosis, and renal function impairment. Parotid gland biopsy showed granulomatous lesion with multinucleated giant cells. Sarcoidosis was diagnosed after other possibilities were excluded. Oral steroid treatment resulted in initial significant clinical improvement. Awareness of the systemic and neurological presentations of sarcoidosis can prompt the correct diagnosis and treatment.