[The treatment and prognosis of sarcoidosis. Apropos 53]. / Tratamiento y pronóstico de la sarcoidosis. A propósito de 53 casos.

OBJECTIVE: We retrospectively studied 53 cases of sarcoidosis which have been diagnosed at our service during de last 14 years. The criteria for starting therapy with corticosteroids and recurrences were analyzed. METHOD: The patients mean (SD) age was 42 (15) years old (range 16-76) and the majority were female (72%). 15 patients (28.3%) received corticosteroids. The only differences with respect to patients not treated were the presence of respiratory symptoms (47% vs 18%; p = 0.04) and the abnormality of spirometric parameters (DLCO/VA p = 0.01; CV p = 0.002). RESULTS: 17 (32%) patients recurred. 14 (82%) of them required corticosteroids. This percentage was significantly greater than that of patients treated at first episode (82% vs 28%, p = 0.0002). All patients improved with treatment. The only difference with respect to patients without recurrences were to be treated at the first episode (53% vs 17%, p = 0.007).

[Intracranial mass as single manifestation of sarcoidosis]. / Masa intracraneal como única manifestación de sarcoidosis.

Neurological involvement in sarcoidosis occurs in 5-10% of cases and may adopt a great variety of forms, included space-occupying cerebral masses. The presence of these masses as single G manifestation of the disease, with no evidence of systemic involvement, is uncommon. In a review of the literature we found 15 reported cases and we report here the case of a 74 year-old woman with a parietooccipital mass histologically diagnosed with sarcoidosis, with no evidence of systemic involvement. In most cases masses are supratentorial, evidenced by neuroradiological procedures and diagnosed by means of pathological investigation. Corticosteroids are the therapy of choice because of the favorable outcome of cases so treated.

[Six-month treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis in children. Review of 11 cases]. / Tratamiento de seis meses en tuberculosis pulmonar infantil. Revisión de 11 casos.

Between April 1987 and April 1988, 11 children with the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis, have been treated with a short-course chemotherapy consisting in the administration of isoniacid (10-20 mg/kg, maximum 300 mg), rifampicin (10-20 mg/kg, maximum 600 mg), ethambutol (15-25 mg/kg, maximum 2.5 g) and pyraxinamide (15-30 mg/kg, maximum 2g) daily for two months, followed by the administration of isoniacid and rifampicin at the same dosage, daily, for the next four months. The results were excellent, symptoms cleared in few days and laboratory values and radiographic alterations cleared in few weeks. Only one of the children had to discontinue the therapy for a pyrazinamide intoleration. The advantages of this treatment are evident, short-course suppose greater comfort for the patient, a better observance of the therapy and less cost with a similar efficacy and without a larger incidence of adverse effects. We conclude that this therapy could be in children so useful than in adults, although more studies with larger series are needed.