Comparative evaluation of the effectiveness of traditional and combined therapies of patients with sarcoidosis

Treatments were comparatively analyzed in two groups comprising 106 patients with respiratory sarcoidosis. One group of patients (n = 52) was treated with conventional therapy (corticosteroid hormones as tablets or aerosols, physiotherapy, SWF, plaquenil, antioxidants, the other (n = 54) received combined therapy (plasmapheresis, reduced hormone dosage, antioxidants. With both treatments, the early results of treatment were equally positive in 60-63% of patients, mainly in new cases of sarcoidosis. The late (3-year follow-up) ones were positive (no recrudescence) in 50 and 37% of patients treated with conventional and combined therapies, respectively. These outcomes are attributable to that combined therapy was used in more critical patients with disseminated and generalized processes and commonly at late stages of the disease.