The differential diagnostic characteristics of sarcoidosis of the intrathoracic lymph nodes and of cardiovascular diseases

One hundred and fifty-four (5.7%) of 2690 patients who had been admitted to a hospital for sarcoidosis of intrathoracic lymph nodes (ITLN) were diagnosed as having various cardiovascular diseases (hypertensive disease, congestive lung, congenital and acquired cardiac diseases, atherosclerosis, aortic aneurysms and myocarditis). Misinterpretation of the X-ray film of the lung root, no lateral X-ray films, inadequate scope of objective studies of the cardiovascular system are the most common errors at prehospital examination. The obligatory making of lateral X-ray films, tomograms, the use of computed tomography, ECG and phonocardiography, and thorough account of objective data are valuable additional methods in the differential diagnosis of ITLN sarcoidosis and cardiovascular diseases accompanied by the appearance of wide truncal large vessels of the root due to pulmonary hypertension.