36 years of Sarcoidosis X-rays
A record of Sarcoidosis from Stage 1 to Cure
Click on the thumnail for a larger, more detailed, version of each image. Please adjust your monitor brightness and contrast until you can see an equal variation between each of the squares on the density gradients included with each (large) image.
A Healthy Volunteer |
1 March 1966 |
6 April 1967 |
Early stages: These two remarkable X-rays were taken 10 years before diagnosis.
They were 2inch square miniatures, taken during a mass anti-TB chest X-ray campaign.
The voltage was low, and penetration not optimal. The small size of the images makes
interpretation difficult. After they were taken, they were adjudged negative for
TB, and archived. At that time the Sarcoidosis was not noticed. Although the signs of adenopathy in the 1966 image are not definitive,
the 1967 plate shows clear progression of adenopathy to
Stage 1 Sarcoidosis (age 19).
There is now a 15 year gap in records until 6 years after diagnosis.
A thoracotomy with biopsy on the base of right lung was performed in 1978, and the reduction
of volume of the right lung in these subsequent images may, or may not, be partially due to the surgery.
Note the loss of volume at the top of the right lung just prior to cure
(antibiotic/ARB therapy commenced July 2002).
19 January 1982 |
21 February 1983 |
7 October 1991 |
24 June 1994 |
15 April 2002 |
30 January 2003 |