Sarcoidosis of the Nose and Paranasal Sinuses

Abstract

Sarcoidosis is a chronic systemic disease of unknown etiology characterized by non-caseating granulomatous inflammation of various organs. The records of 2319 patients with the diagnosis of sarcoidosis were reviewed to determine the incidence of nasal involvement. Seventeen patients or approximately 1% of the patients with sarcoidosis had histologically proven nasal mucosa involvement. These patients had symptoms of nasal crusting, congestion, epistaxis, pain, or anosmia. The clinical findings in these patients included friable nasal mucosa, nasal polyps, or a characteristic submucosal nodularity. Most patients also had abnormal sinus roentgenograms with either thickening of the sinus mucosa or opacification of the sinuses. Involvement of the nasal mucosa by non-caseating granulomas in sarcoidosis is an infrequent manifestation of the disease. Biopsy of the nasal mucosa shows typical non-caseating granulomas, but care must be exercised to exclude other causes of granulomatous inflammation of the nasal mucosa including tuberculosis, fungal infections, and other idiopathic granulomatous diseases such as Wegener's granulomatosis and Churg-Strauss syndrome. The treatment of nasal sarcoidosis has consisted of systemic steroids and in some cases topical beclomethasone dipropionate.