Abstract
For patients with sarcoidosis involving organs, those with cardiac lesions have especially poor prognosis. Among sarcoidosis patients, those in Japan have higher rates of cardiac involvement of sarcoidosis (CS) than do those in other countries. Therefore, the Japanese medical community has put great efforts into managing CS patients and has developed research activities. In this regard, the Japanese Ministry of Health & Welfare (JMHW) issued CS diagnostic guidelines in 1993 and these have been widely used around the world. The Japanese Circulation Society updated its nuclear medicine guidelines in 2010 and recommended using nuclear imaging to diagnose CS. In 2012 JMHW approved insurance reimbursement for 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) and since then 18F-FDG PET has been used in clinical practice for the diagnosis of CS in Japan. In 2014 the Japanese Society of Nuclear Cardiology recommended using 18F-FDG PET imaging in the diagnosis of CS.
