What is Cardiac Sarcoidosis?
Sarcoidosis is a complex disease caused by abnormal activity of inflammatory cells in the body. These cells can come together to form granulomas that can interfere with normal organ function. Almost every part of the body can be affected by this disease, including the lungs, heart, skin, lymph nodes, liver, brain.
When sarcoidosis affects the heart, it can lead to abnormal heart rhythm or pump function. The disease can disrupt heart conduction, causing heart block or very slow heart rates. Cardiac sarcoidosis also can produce extremely fast heart rhythms like ventricular tachycardia. Both very fast and very slow heart rhythms could result in lightheadedness or loss of consciousness. Sometimes sarcoidosis makes the heart muscle itself dysfunctional and lead to heart failure, which can cause a variety of symptoms, such as shortness of breath, leg swelling, and reduced exercise capacity.
Evaluation
Multiple cardiac specialists in advanced cardiac imaging, electrophysiology, and advanced heart failure work together to diagnose and treat cardiac sarcoidosis. Patients being evaluated for cardiac sarcoidosis frequently receive testing that include EKG, home heart rhythm monitoring, echocardiogram, cardiac MRI, and cardiac PET scan. Sometimes a biopsy of the heart muscle is performed.
Treatment
When patients are diagnosed with cardiac sarcoidosis, they may receive an internal pacemaker or defibrillator to prevent dangerously slow or fast heart rhythms. They may also be treated with anti-inflammatory or immunosuppression medications to combat active inflammation in the heart.
At Hartford HealthCare, we work as a multidisciplinary team of cardiac subspecialists, in addition to specialists in pulmonary medicine, rheumatology, and other specialists, to provide personalized care to each patient undergoing evaluation for cardiac sarcoidosis.