Cardiac sarcoidosis: Case report and review of the literature

Sarcoidosis is a rare inflammatory multisystem disease, frequently underdiagnosed and often clinically silent, with a negative prognosis on patient’s survival should the cardiovascular system be involved. This occurs not only due to the direct involvement of the heart and blood vessels but also due to associated organ dysfunctions, most commonly pulmonary sarcoidosis. Cardiac sarcoidosis typically manifests as either conduction disturbances or, less commonly, as tachy- or bradyarrhythmia, sometimes even with signs and/or symptoms of heart failure. In this article, we present the case of a relatively young female patient with few significant comorbidities, who presented to the emergency department for palpitations with a high heart rate, which ultimately turned out to be caused by sustained ventricular tachycardia. The diagnostic steps undertaken thereafter reveal an underlying pulmonary sarcoidosis with cardiac involvement.