Sarcoidosis of the Spinal Cord

Sarcodosis is a relatively common disease, but involvement of the nervous system is rare and involvement of the spinal cord is almost a curiosity. Colover,2in reviewing the world literature, found 115 cases of involvement of the nervous system and added 3 of his own. In the majority of these cases, uveoparotid fever was present with paralysis or paresis of the facial nerve. However, other cranial nerves, peripheral nerves, meninges, pituitary, hypothalamus, and brain were sometimes affected. Changes in the cerebrospinal fluid have repeatedly been reported. Occasionally, the syndrome of Guillain-Barré has been observed. Colover found only one case of involvement of the spinal cord. This case was described by Reisner,8who mentions among 35 cases of Boeck's sarcoidosis "one male negro patient who presented findings pointing to a lesion in the sacral segment of the spinal cord. Complete disappearance of the neurological symptoms occurred in the course of observation."