title: A case of sarcoidosis with eosinophilia in peripheral blood and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid.
abstract: A 70-year-old woman, who has had a diagnosis of sarcoidosis since she was 38 years old, showed newly appearing diffuse ground-glass opacities in the bilateral lung field, and bilateral enlargement of the hilar and mediastinal lymph nodes. Based on findings from bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and pathology analysis, eosinophilic pneumonia accompanied by sarcoidosis was suspected. Both disease conditions (sarcoidosis and BALF eosinophilia) worsened and improved simultaneously, and she showed two similar episodes during the follow-up. This case prompted us to conduct a retrospective investigation of eosinophil percentage in peripheral blood and BALF in 178 patients (excluding our patient) who had received a diagnosis of sarcoidosis between 2000 and 2009 in our department. Among the 178 patients, the highest eosinophil percentage in BALF was 2.6%; in contrast, peripheral blood eosinophilia was very common. Thus we concluded that, for subjects with sarcoidosis, marked eosinophilia in BALF, as observed in the case of this 70-year-old woman, was exceptional.
authors.affiliation: First Department of Medicine, Hokkaido University, School of Medicine, Kita-15, Nishi-7, Kita-Ku, Sapporo 060-8638, Hokkaido, Japan ; Division of Respiratory Medicine and Allergology, Aichi Medical University, Aichi, Japan.
authors.forename: Ayumu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.affiliation: First Department of Medicine, Hokkaido University, School of Medicine, Kita-15, Nishi-7, Kita-Ku, Sapporo 060-8638, Hokkaido, Japan.
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Konno
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Pathology, Hokkaido University Hospital, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan.
authors.forename: Kanako
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hatanaka
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Pathology, Hokkaido University Hospital, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Matsuno
authors.affiliation: Division of Respiratory Medicine and Allergology, Aichi Medical University, Aichi, Japan.
authors.forename: Etsuro
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Yamaguchi
authors.affiliation: First Department of Medicine, Hokkaido University, School of Medicine, Kita-15, Nishi-7, Kita-Ku, Sapporo 060-8638, Hokkaido, Japan.
authors.forename: Masaharu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nishimura
keywords: Eosinophilia; Sarcoidosis