title: Diagnosing cardiac sarcoidosis clinically without tissue confirmation.
abstract: A 52-year-old woman is described in whom cardiac sarcoidosis was diagnosed clinically on the basis of high-grade heart block, recurring ventricular tachyarrhythmias, and acute cardiac decompensation. Confirmation of sarcoidosis was not determined until necropsy. When it causes cardiac dysfunction, sarcoidosis rarely causes dysfunction of another body organ, although small sarcoid granulomas may also be present in noncardiac organs or tissues. In the present patient, neurosarcoidosis accompanied the cardiac sarcoidosis, but it was the latter that produced the life-threatening symptoms and was fatal.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA.
authors.forename: Poonam S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.forename: Jordon G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Lubahn
authors.forename: Alan S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Donsky
authors.forename: Anthony Dong H
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.forename: Melissa M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Carry
authors.forename: Paul A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Grayburn
authors.forename: Prescilla Barrientos
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Wood
authors.forename: Jong Mi
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.forename: Elizabeth C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Burton
authors.forename: William Clifford
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Roberts