title: Transbronchial lung biopsy in the diagnosis of suspected ocular sarcoidosis.
abstract: We conducted clinical research using transbronchial lung biopsy in 60 patients with suspected ocular sarcoidosis who showed no bilateral hilar lymphadenopathy and sparse contributory evidence for sarcoidosis. The patients had a combination of granulomatous iritis with mutton-fat keratic precipitates or iris nodules, trabecular nodules, tent-like peripheral anterior synechiae, snowball or string-of-pearls vitreous opacities, retinal perivasculitis, and spotty retinochoroidal exudates. The transbronchial lung biopsy specimen showed noncaseating epithelioid granuloma in 37 patients (61.7%); these patients were diagnosed as having sarcoidosis. Bronchoalveolar lavage showed a high percentage of patients with an increased lymphocyte fraction among those with positive transbronchial lung biopsy results. The present results may serve as a basis for a clinical diagnosis of sarcoidosis in patients with suspected sarcoidosis without apparent extraocular manifestations.
authors: Department of Ophthalmology, Jichi Medical School, Tochigi-ken, Japan.
authors: K
authors: K
authors: Ohara
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Okubo
authors: K
authors: K
authors: Kamata
authors: H
authors: H
authors: Sasaki
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Kobayashi
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Kitamura
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001706:Biopsy; D001992:Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid / Q000473:pathology; D016516:CD4-CD8 Ratio; D005128:Eye Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006099:Granuloma / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012507:Sarcoidosis / Q000175:diagnosis*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000473:pathology; D006377:T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer / Q000473:pathology