Pulmonary Sarcoidosis Presenting with Miliary Opacities

Lung lesions often appear in patients with sarcoidosis; however, miliary opacities are rare. We herein report the case of a 40-year-old woman with pulmonary sarcoidosis who presented with dyspnea on exertion. Subsequent computed tomography showed miliary opacities, and the presence of granulomas was confirmed by a transbronchial lung biopsy. Glucocorticoid therapy was initiated and the symptoms and miliary opacities rapidly improved. Although miliary sarcoidosis is uncommon, physicians should consider sarcoidosis in addition to tuberculosis, malignancy, and pneumoconiosis when presented with miliary opacities.

MILIARY METASTATIC ADENOCARCINOMA

Miliary sarcoidosis is a rare form of sarcoidosis characterized by numerous miliary-like micronodules dispersed throughout the lungs. It has been documented in less than 1% of all sarcoidosis cases. We first described a rare case of miliary sarcoidosis and then conducted a literature review on the subject. A 51-year-old male complained about a progressive loss of appetite, significant weight loss, occasional night sweats, and fatigue. After a thorough clinical exploration, a differential diagnosis of miliary lung disease was suspected - miliary tuberculosis, fungal infection, metastatic pulmonary carcinoma, or sarcoidosis. High-resolution chest computed tomography revealed bilateral diffuse micronodules with mediastinal lymphadenopathy. Histopathological analysis of transbronchial bioptic tissue identified non-caseating epithelioid granulomas, while no malignant cells were found. Lung tuberculosis and fungal infections were excluded. The levels of angiotensin-converting enzyme in the blood, as well as serum's and 24-hour urine calcium levels, were elevated. After a multidisciplinary discussion, the diagnosis of miliary pulmonary sarcoidosis was established. The patient was treated with prednisone for a total of 9 months, with full clinical and radiological recovery. Using PubMed, we also conducted a review of the literature on this topic and discovered only a few case reports of patients with miliary sarcoidosis, with just one systematic review accessible. The key findings of studies investigating patients diagnosed with miliary sarcoidosis are tabularly displayed. Miliary sarcoidosis is an uncommon type of pulmonary sarcoidosis that can mimic several entities that manifest as miliary nodules. Most patients require treatment since it can have a significant impact on lung function.

UNCOMMON CAUSES OF RECURRENT UNILATERAL PLEURAL EFFUSIONS

Pujari, Sanjay; Gugale, Piyush; Shah, Darshan; Patel, Divya; Gaikwad, Sunil; Desouza, Clyde; Atre, Ashish Author Information

Cardiac sarcoidosis: Diagnosis confirmation by bronchoalveolar lavage and lung biopsy.

Pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) is the most common cause of mortality and morbidity in South East Asia due to infective causes and tops the list of all infectious etiologies in India. Radiological presentations in pulmonary TB are diverse with the most common in them, which are nodules, consolidation, cavitation, and lung parenchymal destruction with or without collapse and consolidation. In this case report, a 31-year-old female presented with constitutional symptoms with miliary opacities in chest X-ray without microbiological evidence for TB in smear microscopy or nucleic acid amplification tests. She was treated as a case of miliary TB with antituberculosis treatment (ATT) on two occasions in the past 2 years as an “X-ray-positive case” on the basis of symptoms and chest radiology findings. She was never shown any clinical and radiological response in the past 1½ years in spite of satisfactory ATT adherence and compliance. After retrospective analysis of this case at our center, we have documented worsening of radiological findings and chest high-resolution computed tomography conformed miliary nodules and not typical miliary mottling favoring TB. We have noted right thyroid enlargement with a nodule in contrast tomography of neck. Fine-needle aspiration cytology confirmed as papillary carcinoma of the thyroid. We have confirmed this case as miliary metastasis due to primary thyroid malignancy. Miliary metastasis should be considered in cases with atypical radiological and clinical presentations with negative microbiological workup. No empirical ATT should be offered in the era of highly sensitive nucleic acid amplification tests and the term “X-ray-positive with negative microbiological tests” should be phased out.

New sarcoidosis guidelines: Are we near to perfection?

Differential Cell Analysis in Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid from Pulmonary Lesions of Patients with Tuberculosis

HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT: DISSEMINATED PULMONARY TB

Introduction: Lung carcinoma is the leading cause of cancer-related mortality. Histopathological diagnosis of bronchial tissue biopsy is considered the gold standard for the diagnosis of lung tumors. The study aims to determine the spectrum of lung lesions and compare the diagnosis by cytological study of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid, histopathological study of cell block preparation, with histopathological study of bronchial biopsy in suspected lung lesions. Material and methods: The study was carried out in the Pathology department, Gujarat Medical Education and Research Society (GMERS) Medical College and Hospital, Sola, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, for a period of 3 years. Comparison of diagnoses made by cytological study of BAL fluid, histopathological study of cell block preparation, and histopathological study of bronchial biopsy in suspected lung lesions was done, and sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), and diagnostic accuracy of each method were calculated. Results: Out of 72 cases which were included in the study, a diagnosis of malignancy was given in 42(58.33%) cases by histopathological examination of lung biopsy, the cytological diagnosis of malignancy was given in 19(26.39%) cases in BAL fluid, and histopathological diagnosis of malignancy was given in 25 (34.72%) cases in cell block. The maximum number of cases was found in the age group of 51-60 years and in males. Conclusion: The gold standard method for the diagnosis of lung lesions is histopathological examination. Though the BAL fluid and cell block method was inferior to bronchial biopsy in diagnosing lung lesions, BAL fluid is more effective in peripheral lung lesions.

Background: Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) is a useful technique to recover lower airway fluid and cells involved in many respiratory diseases. Miliary tuberculosis is potentially lethal, but the clinical manifestations are nonspecific and typical radiologic findings may not be seen until late in the course of disease. In addition, invasive procedures are often needed to confirm disease diagnosis. This study analyzed the cells and the T-lymphocyte subset in BAL fluid from patients with miliary tuberculosis to determine specific characteristics of BAL fluid that may help in the diagnosis of miliary tuberculosis, using a less invasive procedure. Methods: On a retrospective basis, we enrolled 20 miliary tuberculosis patients; 12 patients were male and the mean patient age was years. We analyzed differential cell counts of BAL fluid and the T-lymphocyte subset of BAL fluid. Results: Total cells and lymphocytes were increased in number in the BAL fluid. The percentage of CD4+ Tlymphocytes and the CD4/CD8 ratio in BAL fluid were significantly decreased and the percentage of CD8+ T-lymphocytes was relatively higher. These findings were more prominent in patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). In the HIV-infected patients, the proportion of lymphocytes was significantly higher in BAL fluid than in peripheral blood. There were no significant differences between the BAL fluid and the peripheral blood T-lymphocytes subpopulation. Conclusion: BAL fluid in patients with miliary tuberculosis demonstrated lymphocytosis, a lower percentage of CD4+ T-lymphocytes, a higher percentage of CD8+ T-lymphocytes, and a decreased CD4/CD8 ratio. These findings were more significant in HIV-infected subjects.

Despite mixed results in the literature, some clinicians continue to consider an elevated CD4/CD8 ratio in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid to be supportive of a diagnosis of sarcoidosis. However, the CD4/CD8 ratio in mediastinal lymph nodes involved by sarcoidosis has not been extensively studied. The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the utility of the CD4/CD8 ratio in mediastinal lymph node aspirates obtained by endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) for diagnosing sarcoidosis. Our archives were searched for EBUS-TBNAs in which mediastinal lymph node aspirates had been submitted for flow cytometry (n=160). Clinical and pathologic findings in these cases were reviewed retrospectively. Cases were included in the study if they had (1) a clinical diagnosis of sarcoidosis supported by cytopathologic confirmation of non-necrotizing granulomas in EBUS-TBNA-derived lymph node aspirates (23 cases), or (2) a pathologically confirmed non-neoplastic diagnosis other than sarcoidosis (7 cases). Cases that did not fulfil these criteria were excluded (130 cases). The CD4/CD8 ratios in mediastinal lymph nodes and BAL fluid were compared. The CD4/CD8 ratio was elevated in mediastinal lymph nodes in 12/23 (52%) cases of sarcoidosis and 3/7 (43%) pathologically confirmed nonsarcoid cases. BAL fluid had been concurrently submitted for flow cytometry in 20/23 cases of sarcoidosis and 5/7 nonsarcoid cases. CD4/CD8 was elevated in BAL fluid in 9/20 (45%) cases of sarcoidosis and 2/5 (40%) nonsarcoid cases. As in BAL fluid, the CD4/CD8 ratio in mediastinal lymph nodes involved by sarcoid granulomas is highly variable and does not reliably confirm or exclude sarcoidosis.

Cytokines were measured in patients with pleural effusion and miliary tuberculosis (TB). Patients with pleural effusion had significantly higher interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) levels (P < 0.001) in their pleural fluid as compared to that of peripheral blood of the same patients, thus exhibiting localization of predominantly Th1-type immunity in the pleural fluid. On the contrary, patients with miliary TB had higher IFN-gamma levels in the peripheral blood as compared to their bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. Moreover, the median IFN-gamma: IL-4 ratio in the peripheral blood of miliary TB patients was two-fold higher as compared to bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, suggesting that the cytokine profile at the disease site is skewed toward a Th2-like bias. Further, flow cytometry data revealed a significantly higher (P < 0.001) percentage of CD4+ pleural fluid lymphocytes expressing IFN-gamma, whereas in the miliary TB, a nine-fold higher percentage of lymphocytes in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid expressed IL-4 in comparison with their peripheral CD4 T cells. Our data indicate, respectively, a Th1-like and Th2-like response in tuberculous pleural effusion and miliary TB, suggesting that these clinical forms of extrapulmonary tuberculosis probably reflect the extreme ends of a Th1-Th2 spectrum of the disease.

Psychosis and hepatotoxicity are the dangerous side effects of the antitubercular drugs directly observed treatment short course (DOTS) therapy. Hematological spreading of tubercular bacteria in the lungs is also known as miliary tuberculosis. In this case study, 45-year-old man, weighing 55 kg was brought to the hospital with the chief complaints of vomiting (multiple episodes), fever, pain in abdomen, difficulty in breathing, mucoid cough, and disturbed sleep for the past 1 week. He had a known case of smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis (in the past 1 month), but at that time, patient was not taking regular antitubercular treatment (ATT) medications (DOTS therapy). After 3th week of irregular antitubercular drug treatment, patient developed with the problems such as vomiting (multiple episodes), fever, pain in abdomen, difficulty in breathing, cough with expectorations, disturbed in sleep, and delirium. Pulmonologists had found the provisional and final diagnosis on the bases of subjective and objective observations miliary KOCH’S with antitubercular drugs induced hepatotoxicity and psychosis. Patients recovered from psychosis and hepatotoxicity withdrawn the first line ATT medication and tablet pyridoxine, antipsychotic medicines, and modified ATT were added in the therapy. Psychotic in a patient on ATT can be one of the complications of tablet isoniazid. As a clinical pharmacologist, we prevent and minimize drugs-induced complications and adverse drug reactions. Proper patients counseling and patients’ education are important for the better management of patients.