EEG in Sarcoidosis Patients Without Neurological Findings.
Sarcoidosis is a multisystem granulomatous disease affecting nervous system in 5% to 10% of patients. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is accepted as the most sensitive method for detecting neurosarcoidosis. However, the most common findings in MRI are the nonspecific white matter lesions, which may be unrelated to sarcoidosis and can occur because of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, smoking, and other inflammatory or infectious disorders, as well. Autopsy studies report more frequent neurological involvement than the ante mortem studies. The aim of this study is to assess electroencephalography (EEG) in sarcoidosis patients without neurological findings in order to display asymptomatic neurological dysfunction. We performed EEG on 30 sarcoidosis patients without diagnosis of neurosarcoidosis or prior neurological comorbidities. Fourteen patients (46.7%) showed intermittant focal and/or generalized slowings while awake and not mentally activated. Seven (50%) of these 14 patients with EEG slowings had nonspecific white matter changes while the other half showed EEG slowings in the absence of MRI changes. We conclude that EEG slowings, when normal variants (psychomotor variant, temporal theta of elderly, frontal theta waves) are eliminated, may be an indicator of dysfunction in brain activity even in the absence of MRI findings. Hence, EEG may contribute toward detecting asymptomatic neurological dysfunction or probable future neurological involvement in sarcoidosis patients.
Süreyyapaşa Chest Diseases and Thorax Surgery Training and Research Hospital, Department of Neurology, Istanbul, Turkey ozgurbilgin1@yahoo.com.|School of Medicine, Marmara University, Department of Neurology, Istanbul, Turkey.
Özgür
Ö
Bilgin Topçuoğlu
Süreyyapaşa Chest Diseases and Thorax Surgery Training and Research Hospital, Department of Chest Diseases, Istanbul, Turkey.
Murat
M
Kavas
Süreyyapaşa Chest Diseases and Thorax Surgery Training and Research Hospital, Department of Chest Diseases, Istanbul, Turkey.
Selahattin
S
Öztaş
Süreyyapaşa Chest Diseases and Thorax Surgery Training and Research Hospital, Department of Chest Diseases, Istanbul, Turkey.
Sibel
S
Arınç
Süreyyapaşa Chest Diseases and Thorax Surgery Training and Research Hospital, Department of Chest Diseases, Istanbul, Turkey.
Gülgün
G
Afşar
Süreyyapaşa Chest Diseases and Thorax Surgery Training and Research Hospital, Department of Chest Diseases, Istanbul, Turkey.
Sema
S
Saraç
School of Medicine, Marmara University, Department of Neurology, Istanbul, Turkey.
İpek
İ
Midi
D000328:Adult; D058070:Asymptomatic Diseases; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002493:Central Nervous System Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012507:Sarcoidosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
EEG; EEG slowings; neurological dysfunction; neurological involvement; sarcoidosis