Chest
Clinical InvestigationsExerciseSarcoidosis: The Value of Exercise Testing
Section snippets
Materials and Methods
We studied sequential patients with biopsy specimen-provensarcoidosis who were referred to the Pulmonary Physiology Laboratoryfor clinical exercise testing between 1992 and 1997, who successfullycompleted 6 min of a progressive SLE test and had resting pulmonaryfunction, exercise testing, and posteroanterior and lateral chestradiographs performed within a 2-month period. Each pair of chestradiographs was examined and classified by two pulmonologists: stage 0, no radiographic abnormalities;
Results
Forty-eight individuals completed a minimum of 6 min of exercisetesting. The mean age of the subjects was 41 years, 17 were white, 24were African American, 8 were smokers, and 4 of the smokers had initial COHb measurements > 3%. No patient had clinical evidence of heartdisease. Seventeen patients were receiving treatment with one or moreof the following medications: clonidine, H2-receptor antagonists, ipratropium viametered-dose inhaler (MDI), albuterol via MDI, triamcinolone via MDI, insulin,
Discussion
We do not have a true noninvasive “gold standard” formeasuring the extent of disease in patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis. The American Thoracic Society, European Thoracic Society, and the World Association of Sarcoidosis and other Granulomatous Disorders haveissued a joint statement19 of recommendations forfollowing patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis. They recommendthat system review, physical examination, chest radiograph, andspirometry be performed regularly. These will suffice for
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