Pulmonary sarcoidosis and antiphospholipid syndrome

Pulmonary sarcoidosis is an idiopathic granulomatosis with a clinical picture involving dyspnea, coughing, chest pain and characteristic radiologic changes. A review of English and Spanish language publications (PubMed 1990 through 2002) suggests that our report of a case of pulmonary sarcoidosis associated with primary antiphospholipid syndrome is the first one in the literature for this period. The patient was a 35-year-old man with venous thrombosis who later developed pulmonary sarcoidosis. The clinical course was not favorable in spite of good prognostic factors. We conclude that the association of these two clinical conditions is rare and that the presence of antiphospholipid syndrome may lead to greater morbidity and mortality.