Twenty percent of patients will develop progressive disease. At the present time, although there are some clues as to who will develop progressive disease, it is not possible to definitively predict which patients will have this course. Death from sarcoidosis is rare. It usually occurs in patients with the progressive form of disease, and usually does not occur for at least ten to thirty years following diagnosis. The treatment of sarcoidosis has not yet been standardized.
Corticosteroids are the primary medication used for the treatment of sarcoidosis.
Many times no therapy is given for sarcoidosis because, although Corticosteroids have been shown to be of benefit in the short term, they usually are not of benefit over the long term. The physician must use his expert judgment to decide which patients should be treated and which should be followed without therapy to see if they improve on their own. Other medications are available for the treatment of sarcoidosis. All of these medications have potentially severe side effects as well. In patients with end stage lung, heart, or liver disease, transplantation has been performed.