Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0020440 (hypercapnia)
 7,939 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Sarcoidosis very rarely progresses towards severe subacute respiratory failure. We report three observations of recent atypical cases of pulmonary sarcoidosis which were proven by open lung biopsy and developed severe diffuse pulmonary granulomatosis in a few weeks with an associated interstitial fibrosis. In these patients there were diffuse crepitant rales, a dramatic reduction in lung function of 30-60% of lung volumes and diffusion capacity accompanied by major hypoxemia (m +/- DS: 63.3 +/- 4.0 mmHg) without hypercapnia. Bronchoalveolar lavage showed an alveolar neutrophil leucocytosis (7.3 +/- 5.5%) without a lymphocytosis (4.3 +/- 11.5%). In the three cases under study, the clinical picture, the radiological and lung function studies, as well as the data from the bronchoalveolar lavage, were more suggestive of an acute diffuse interstitial fibrosis than of sarcoidosis.
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PMID:[Pulmonary sarcoidosis simulating primary acute interstitial fibrosis at presentation. Clinical, radiologic, functional and bronchoalveolar cytologic study in 3 cases]. 274 May 89

Sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) has a high prevalence in sarcoidosis. This high prevalence may be the result of increased upper airways resistance from sarcoidosis of the upper respiratory tract, corticosteroid-induced obesity, or parenchymal lung involvement from sarcoidosis. OSA is a form of SDB that is particularly common in patients with sarcoidosis. Sarcoidosis and SDB share many similar symptoms and clinical findings, including fatigue, gas exchange abnormalities, and pulmonary hypertension (PH). Sarcoidosis-associated fatigue is a common entity for which stimulants may be beneficial. Sarcoidosis-associated fatigue is a diagnosis of exclusion that requires an evaluation for the possibility of OSA. Hypercapnia is unusual in a patient with sarcoidosis without severe pulmonary dysfunction and, in this situation, should prompt evaluation for alternative causes of hypercapnia, such as SDB. PH is usually mild when associated with OSA, whereas the severity of sarcoidosis-associated PH is related to the severity of sarcoidosis. PH caused by OSA usually responds to CPAP, whereas sarcoidosis-associated PH commonly requires the use of vasodilators. Management of OSA in sarcoidosis is problematic because corticosteroid treatment of sarcoidosis may worsen OSA. Aggressive efforts should be made to place the patient on the lowest effective dose of corticosteroids, which involves early consideration of corticosteroid-sparing agents. Because of the significant morbidity associated with SDB, early recognition and treatment of SDB in patients with sarcoidosis may improve their overall quality of life.
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PMID:Interrelationship between sleep-disordered breathing and sarcoidosis. 2599 91

In this paper we present a clinical case that has improved on our knowledge and our curiosity about sarcoidosis. We report a case of a patient known to have pulmonary sarcoidosis, who presents with respiratory failure with severe hypercapnia. Following thorough investigations this patient was recognized to have three unique yet interrelated aspects of clinical manifestations. He was found to have severe bilateral diaphragmatic hypokinesis, dilated pulmonary vasculature with normal pulmonary pressure, and a state of high output right sided heart failure. We propose an explanation of such a presentation, while we attempted to discuss possible alternative mechanisms. In conclusion, we report this case as the first recognized case of sarcoidosis to be related to diffusely dilated pulmonary vasculature of normal vascular pressure.
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PMID:Pulmonary arterial dilation with normal pulmonary artery pressure in sarcoidosis. 3061 64