Sarcoidosis activity: correlation of HRCT findings with those of 67Ga scanning, bronchoalveolar lavage, and serum angiotensin-converting enzyme assay.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study was to correlate the findings of sarcoidosis on high resolution CT (HRCT) with indexes of disease activity as measured with 67Ga scan, bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL), and serum angiotensin-converting enzyme (SACE) assay.


METHODS
Twenty-nine patients with proven sarcoidosis underwent HRCT scan, 67Ga scan, BAL, and SACE assay within a 1 month period. The extent of parenchymal involvement by nodules, consolidation, ground-glass attenuation, and linear opacities was quantified to the nearest 10% of surface area affected on the CT examination. Whole-lung gallium uptake was quantified and the percentage of BAL-recovered lymphocytes (BAL-%LC) and SACE levels obtained by chart review. CT scores of disease extent were correlated with measured indexes of activity using the Spearman rank correlation coefficient.


RESULTS
The mean extent of nodules, consolidation, ground-glass attenuation, and linear opacities on HRCT images was 15.1 +/- 16.6, 1.6 +/- 4.0, 17.5 +/- 25.4, and 7.6 +/- 9.6%, respectively. The extent of nodules and consolidation correlated with the intensity of lung gallium uptake (r = 0.46, p < 0.02), BAL-%LC (r = 0.50, p < 0.01), and SACE levels (r = 0.38, p < 0.05). No significant correlation was found between extent of ground-glass attenuation or linear opacities with any indexes of disease activity.


CONCLUSIONS
On HRCT scan, nodules and consolidation in sarcoidosis reflect disease activity as measured by 67Ga scan, BAL, and SACE assay.
Leung
A N
AN
Department of Radiology, Hôpital Pitié-Salpétrière, Paris, France.
Brauner
M W
MW
Caillat-Vigneron
N
N
Valeyre
D
D
Grenier
P
P
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001992:Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid / Q000166:cytology*; D002951:Citrates; D004796:Clinical Enzyme Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D005708:Gallium; D005710:Gallium Radioisotopes; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D007703:Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A / Q000097:blood*; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D017565:Sarcoidosis, Pulmonary / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
D002951:Citrates; D005710:Gallium Radioisotopes; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D005708:Gallium; D007703:Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A; C103850:gallium citrate