Acute pleurisy in sarcoidosis.

A 47-year-old white man with sarcoidosis presented with a six-week history of acute painful pleurisy. On auscultation a loud pleural rub was heard at the left base together with bilateral basal crepitations. The chest radiograph showed hilar enlargement as well as diffuse lung shadowing. A lung biopsy showed the presence of numerous epithelioid and giant-cell granulomata, particularly subpleurally. A patchy interstitial pneumonia was also present. He was given a six-month course of prednisolone, and lung function returned to normal.