Coexistence of sarcoidosis and myeloproliferative disease: a case of sarcoidosis preceding polycythaemia vera with a literature review.

A patient with the chronic active type of sarcoidosis developed polycythaemia vera 20 years later. A review of the literature shows that sarcoidosis preceding myeloproliferative disease tends to be of the chronic active variety. The same pattern is observed in associations of sarcoidosis with malignant lymphoproliferative disease and solid tumours, in which sarcoidosis appears to be the underlying cause of the subsequent malignancy.