Lack of pulmonary involvement leads to a 3 years delay of diagnosis in a childhood sarcoidosis case with arthritis, ocular symptoms, and bilateral parotid swelling

TL;DR

A 12-year-old child with sarcoidosis had a delayed diagnosis due to lack of lung involvement and multisystem symptoms.

Contribution

Highlights the diagnostic challenge of sarcoidosis in children without pulmonary symptoms.

Findings

Sarcoidosis was misdiagnosed for 3 years due to absence of pulmonary involvement.

Multisystem symptoms like arthritis, ocular issues, and parotid swelling were present.

Interdisciplinary collaboration is crucial for diagnosing rare cases like this.

Abstract

This paper presents a rare sarcoidosis case in a child of 12 years of age presented with arthritis, bilateral parotid enlargement and ocular, but unfortunately the diagnosis has been missed due to lack of pulmonary involvement.

Diagnosis of sarcoidosis is by exclusion, and sometimes, it can be challenging. This paper presents a rare sarcoidosis case in a child of 12 years of age presented with bilateral parotid enlargement. The signs of musculoskeletal and ocular involvement were present before the parotid enlargement, and the parotid swelling persisted for 3 years; but unfortunately the definite diagnosis has been missed by the previous healthcare professionals most probably due to the rarity of the situation, especially lack of pulmonary involvement. Therefore, cooperation between different healthcare specialties is important for an effective diagnosis and management. Despite its rarity, sarcoidosis should always be present in the list of differential diagnosis when encountering multisystem entities like arthritis, ocular symptoms and parotid swelling.

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