HomeHealthcare professionalScientific researchMore recent publications
Drs. D. Fritz, Drs. M. Voortman, Prof. dr. D. van de Beek, Prof. dr. M. Drent, Dr. M.C. Brouwer This article gives a nice overview of our current knowledge on the clinical presentation, diagnostics, treatment and outcome of patients with neurosarcoidosis, based on international literature. We collaborated with the Antonius hospital in Nieuwegein.
Anne Musters en Sander W. Tas This article is an editorial in the scientific journal 'Rheumatology'. Evaluating the effects and safety of modern treatment agents which treat rare diseases can be complex, because it can be difficult to properly investigate them in a qualitative clinical trial due to the low number of patients with this disease. Therefore, it is important to adequately describe the effects of these treatments. This article suggests the five domains of the 'Rare IMID Disease Activity Score' (RIDAS).
Drs. D. Fritz, Prof. Dr. D. van de Beek, Dr. M.C. Brouwer In this article we collected information of all the large studies which describe patients diagnosed with neurosarcoidosis to give an adequate overview of clinical characteristics (symptoms), ancillary investigations, treatment and outcome in neurosarcoidosis. The conclusion is that the disease is diverse (a cameleon) and that despite the introduction of new third line treatment agents still one-third of patients remain stable, deteriorate or die.
Drs. S.E. Leonhard, Drs. D. Fritz, Prof. dr. D. van de Beek, Dr. M.C. Brouwer In this article we described a rare complication of sarcoidosis; cryptococcal meningitis. This is an infection of the meninges due to a fungus called 'Cryptococcus neoformans'. This is a extreme rare complication in sarcoidosis patients and can occur when their immune system is weakened due to the disease.
Drs. S.E. Leonhard, Drs. D. Fritz, Dr. F. Eftimov, Dr. A.J. van der Kooi, Prof. dr. D. van de Beek, Dr. M.C. Brouwer In this research we have described the clinical characteristics, ancillary investigations, treatment and outcome of patients with neurosarcoidosis. The conclusion is that ancillary investigations have a low sensitivity and that half of the patients react favourable to first line treatment with prednisone.
Anne Musters, Amira Assaf, Dominique L.P. Baeten en Sander W. Tas Patients with serious, immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMID's), like sarcoidosis, are increasingly treated with biologicals. Because research in these rare diseases is often very difficult, it is not known in all cases what the effects of the treatment are. In this article we elaborate on the RUBRIC-registry, in which we registrate the efficacy and the safety of these agents.
Dragonieri S, Brinkman P, Mouw E, Zwinderman AH, Carratú P, Resta O, Sterk PJ, Jonkers RE Because making the diagnosis sarcoidosis can be complex, it is important to improve the diagnostic process. In this article we describe an 'electronic nose' to check heter or not it can potentials identify sarcoidosis patients. They did this by comparing the exhaled air of untreated sarcoidosis patients with healthy controls. They did found that the exhaled air was different.
von Bartheld MB, Dekkers OM, Szlubowski A, Eberhardt R, Herth FJ, in 't Veen JC, de Jong YP, van der Heijden EH, Tournoy KG, Claussen M, van den Blink B, Shah PL, Zoumot Z, Clementsen P, Porsbjerg C, Mauad T, Bernardi FD, van Zwet EW, Rabe KF, Annema JT For the diagnosis of sarcoidosis, identifying granulomas in affected tissue is preferred. This is done by extracting lymph node tissue in the lungs via a biopsy. In this article the investigators evaluated what is the best way to perform the biopsy: with endosonography or with bronchoscopy (which is standard care). The article describes that endosonography is the best way to perform biopsy. Furthermore it describes what kind of complications might be expected.
Boot RG, Hollak CE, Verhoek M, Alberts C, Jonkers RE, Aerts JM The diagnosis of sarcoidosis can be complex and therefore the diagnostic process must be improved. In this article we looked for markers in the blood that can have a role in the diagnosis but also in monitoring the disease activity. More specifically they investigated 'chitotriosidase' en 'CCL18'. These two markers show potential.