Evaluation of Main Pulmonary Artery Diameter by Multislice Computed Tomography in Patients with Stage II Sarcoidosis

Aim: Chest radiography and thoracic computed tomography (CT) play an important role in the diagnosis and
prognosis of sarcoidosis, a systemic granulomatous disease characterized by non-caseating granulomas.
Pulmonary hypertension, a rare complication of the disease, can be seen in all stages. There is a strong
correlation between pulmonary hypertension (PH) and an increase in the diameter of the main pulmonary
artery (MPAD). In this study, we aimed to evaluate MPAD with multislice computed tomography (CT)
examination for the early diagnosis of PH in patients with stag e II sarcoidosis.
Patients and Methods: We measured the diameter of the main pulmonary artery on thorax CT in patients
with stage II sarcoidosis, who were followed up in our hospital with a diagnosis of sarcoidosis between
January-2018 and December-2021, with hilar lymphadenopathy and parenchymal changes in their imaging,
and compared them with the control group, whose chest X-ray was normal and thorax CT scan was performed
with nonspecific symptoms. We evaluated the relationship between the pulmonary artery pressures obtained
by echocardiography and the diameter of the main pulmonary arte ry in patients with stage II sarcoidosis
Results: We found a significant correlation between the increase in MPAD and pulmonary artery pressure
measured by ECHO in patients with sarcoidosis compared to the control group, and the pulmonary artery
diameter measured by CT in this patient group.
Conclusion: We think that CT evaluation of pulmonary artery diameter in patients with sarcoidosis can guide
the development of PH and therefore of fer an opportunity for early intervention.