Purpose. - A retrospective study was set up to investigate active pathologi
c processes associated with sarcoidosis diagnosed in 32 patients.
Methods. - Eighteen patients had two identified granulomatous localizations
(569%) and 14 patients had three localizations or more (27%). Comorbidity
was noticed in nine patients (28% of cases). Sarcoidosis was associated wit
h an Infectious disease five times (hepatitis C virus [HCV] infection three
times, including one case after recombinant interferon alpha therapy, and
HIV and HCV co-infection two times). The association of sarcoidosis with a
chronic immunologic inflammatory disease was noticed four times (lupus eryt
hematosus two times, myasthenia and primary biliary cirrhosis). Finally, in
two cases sarcoidosis was associated with a neoplasia (non-Hodgkin's lymph
oma in a co-infected HIV-HCV patient, ovarian cystadenocarcinoma in another
patient). Sarcoidosis preceded or revealed the comorbidity four times.
Conclusion. - Prospective studies should allow the finding of significant p
athologic processes associated with sarcoidosis and to progress in the iden
tification of its triggering factors; they should also help to define the r
elevant etiologic research to practice when faced with this granulomatosus.
(C) 2001 Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.