cardiovascular disorders
Cardiac Sarcoidosis
Key Points
About 25% of patients with systemic sarcoidosis have cardiac involvement, but only about 5% have cardiac symptoms. Cardiac involvement causes a disproportionate percentage of deaths in patients with sarcoidosis. Diagnosis requires a combination of clinical, electrocardiographic, and imaging findings; cardiac biopsy can be diagnostic but is not usually done. Cardiac manifestations often require a pacemaker/implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) and sometimes antiarrhythmic drugs. Sarcoidosis itself is treated with corticosteroids and sometimes immunosuppressants. 