Retrograde Radiographic Development in Pulmonary Sarcoidosis

Abstract

A 48-year-old man with dyspnea, cough, and fever was found to have a diffuse ground-glass pulmonary lesion without lymphadenopathy on chest X-ray. The lesion shifted to the peripheral lung zones 2 months later when transbronchial biopsy demonstrated noncaseating granulomas with Langhans type giant cells. After 6 more months, prominent bilateral hilar lymphadenopathy and highly elevated serum angiotensin-converting enzyme confirmed the diagnosis of pulmonary sarcoidosis. Such a course is quite rare in that it goes the opposite way of the conventional staging system.