Uveitis as a presenting feature of chronic sarcoidosis.

Uveitis is often a manifestation of sarcoidosis. Less well-recognized, however, is the development of uveitis several years before the diagnosis of systemic sarcoidosis. The possibility that presentation of uveitis is a marker for the chronicity of sarcoidosis has never been investigated.

Nephrolithiasis as a presenting feature of chronic sarcoidosis.

Background: Renal calculi have been reported to occur in about 10% of patients with chronic sarcoidosis, but nephrolithiasis as a presentation of this disease has not been studied.

Methods: The charts of 618 patients with histologically proven sarcoidosis, seen in the period October 1978-1992, were reviewed in order to identify nephrolithiasis at presentation.

Results: Seventeen patients had renal calculi which preceded other manifestations of sarcoidosis.

Efficacy of a three day course of azithromycin in moderately severe community-acquired pneumonia.

This study was designed to evaluate the efficacy of a 3 day course of azithromycin in low to moderately severe community-acquired pneumonia. Forty patients with low to moderately severe community-acquired pneumonia (29 males, 11 females, mean age 46 +/- 17 yrs; 20 pretreated with betalactams for 2-10 days with no results before admission to hospital; 18 with evidence of co-morbidity) were enrolled in an open, randomized study with azithromycin, 500 mg q.d.

The differential diagnosis of hard metal lung disease.

Hard metal lung disease is usually easy to diagnose, on the basis of occupational history, chest X-ray appearance of interstitial lung disease and, if necessary, by bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL). However, other interstitial lung diseases may affect patients with an occupational history of exposure to cobalt. In hard metal disease, the hylar lymphnodes may enlarge due to high draining of hard metals from the lung tissue via lymphatic vessels.

Gastrointestinal presentation of Churg Strauss syndrome.

Gastrointestinal involvement is frequent in patients with Churg Strauss Syndrome: clinical symptoms (abdominal pain, diarrhea or bleeding) range from 44 to 89%, pathologic involvement of the bowel from 33 to 92%, and gastrointestinal death (bleeding or perforation), described in 8% of cases, is the fourth leading cause of death after heart, CNS and renal failure. In spite of this wide-spread digestive involvement, gastrointestinal presentation has never been described. We present a 56 year old man with Churg Strauss Syndrome, where eosinophilia, diarrhea and gastrointestinal bleeding appeared three years before asthma.