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NetWellness provides the highest quality health information and education services created and evaluated by faculty of our partner universities.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
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NetWellness provides the highest quality health information and education services created and evaluated by faculty of our partner universities.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
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Lung Center |
pulmo ary Sarcodosis08/01/2000 |
I have been suffering for 27 years with fourth stage pulmonary sarcoidosis. I moved here from N.Carolina a few years ago. I am having difficulty locating support groups, and new information or new medicine for treatment. Just a year ago, I suddenly became very ill again, and had to have a surgery. Do you have any new treatment info. concerning late stages sarcoidosis. I`ll be waiting to hear from you.
There are several new treatments for sarcoidosis over the past several years. These have mostly been "stolen" from the arthritis doctors who developed them to get people off prednisone for their arthritis. Of these drugs, the most useful seem to be:Methotrexate, an old drug originally used for cancer, but now used at much lower doses for rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis. It has been used in patients with advanced sarcoidosis and works about 60-80% of the time. It does take about six months to kick in. Major side effects include nausea, lowering of the white cells, and after prolonged use (more than two years) possible liver damage.
Azathioprine (Imuran) is similar to methotrexate, but more likely to lower the white cells or cause nausea. However, it does not affect the liver as much.
Hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil) is a drug originally used to treat malaria. It helps arthritis and skin problems from sarcoidosis, and overall works about 30% of the time. It can affect the eye and cause nausea.
Of the newer drugs, pentoxyfylline and thalidomide have been reported to be useful. We have found thalidomide most useful for severe skin disease, we are working our way through its use in other forms of the disease.
There are always some new drugs being tried in sarcoidosis, since not everyone wants to take prednisone.
There are several support groups for sarcoidosis. In Southwestern Ohio, Judith Kay runs the Cincinnati group and Rita Waymire runs the Dayton support group.
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Robert P. Baughman, MD Professor of Medicine Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine Department of Internal Medicine College of Medicine University of Cincinnati |
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