Pulmonary sarcoidosis associated with psoriasis vulgaris: coincidental occurrence or causal association? Case report.
BACKGROUND
Sarcoidosis is rarely associated with a distinct disease. One disease infrequently associated with sarcoidosis is psoriasis.


METHODS
This case study describes a 38-year-old male, who presented with chest pain, high-grade fever, arthralgias and a skin rash accompanied by bilateral hilar lymphadenopathy on his chest radiograph. Extensive investigations including fiber-optic bronchoscopy with bronchoalveolar lavage and labial and skin biopsies, demonstrated that two distinct clinical entities co-existed in the same patient: pulmonary sarcoidosis and psoriasis vulgaris. Combination therapy for both diseases was applied and the patient was greatly improved.


CONCLUSIONS
This is the first well-documented case of sarcoidosis and psoriasis in the same patient, reported on the basis of safe and widely-used techniques that were not available until fairly recently. These disorders might share common pathogenic mechanisms that could explain their co-existence in the patient.
Nikolopoulou
Melita
M
Department of Pneumonology, Army General Hospital of Athens, Athens, Greece. melmarnik@yahoo.gr
Katsenos
Stamatis
S
Psathakis
Kostas
K
Rallis
Efstathios
E
Sampaziotis
Dimitrios
D
Panagou
Panagiotis
P
Tsintiris
Kostas
K
Bouros
Demosthenes
D
D000328:Adult; D018893:Bronchoalveolar Lavage; D001999:Bronchoscopy; D015897:Comorbidity; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011565:Psoriasis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D017565:Sarcoidosis, Pulmonary / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology