Current views on neurosarcoidosis: pathogenesis, clinical manifestations, diagnosis

Abstract

The review gives data on the etiology, pathogenesis, and clinical manifestations of sarcoidosis, which are associated particularly with damage to the central and peripheral nervous system. Sarcoidosis is currently regarded as a genetically determined, polyetiologic, and multisystem, disease of mainly autoimmune origin, which is accompanied by a productive inflammatory response with the formation of space-occupying noncaseous granulomas. The detection rates for the classical forms of sarcoidosis of the lungs, lymph nodes, and eyes are increasing, while the intravital diagnosis of neurosarcoidosis is still difficult. The latter mimics many other neurological diseases, frequently in persistent disabling disorders and death. Studies focus on searching for imaging, biological and/or immune markers that can reliably diagnose this disease. The problem of small fiber neuropathy that is considered to be the most common and early manifestation of neurosarcoidosis is being actively studied. In 2018, Neurosarcoidosis Consortium Consensus Group (NCCG), USA, proposed the diagnostic criteria for neurosarcoidosis, which are presented in this article.