A Case of Sarcoidosis with Generalized Lymphadenopathy in Which Differentiation from Malignant Lymphoma was Difficult

Abstract

A 26 year-old-female noticed bilateral lymph node swelling of her neck two months prior to her first visit to our hospital. Chest radiograph revealed mediastinal lymphadenopathy, and she was admitted to our hospital. Since CT scan revealed generalized lymph node swelling such as retroperitoneal and axillar lymph nodes and serum LDH and sIL-2R levels were remarkably elevated, malignant lymphoma was suspected. However, biopsy of neck lymph node confirmed the diagnosis of sarcoidosis pathologically. Oral administration of corticosteroid improved generalized Lymphadenopathy with decrease in serum levels of LDH and sIL-2R. Although mediastinal lymph nodes were reenlarged during tapering of steroid, lymphadenopathy was then improved without increasing corticosteroid dosage. We report here a rare case of sarcoidosis with generalized lymphadenopathy.