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Table 1 ‘Japan Criteria’ for the diagnosis of cardiac sarcoidosis [15]

From: Diagnostic accuracy of cardiac MRI, FDG-PET, and myocardial biopsy for the diagnosis of cardiac sarcoidosis: a protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis

Histologic diagnosis group

 Endomyocardial biopsy demonstrates epithelioid granuloma without caseating granulomatoma

Clinical diagnosis group

 In patients with a histologic diagnosis of extra-cardiac sarcoidosis, cardiac sarcoidosis is suspected when ‘a’ and at least one of criteria ‘b’ to ‘e’ is present and other aetiologies such as hypertension and coronary artery disease have been excluded

a) Complete right bundle branch block, left-axis deviation, atrioventricular block, ventricular tachycardia, premature ventricular contraction or pathological Q or S-T change on resting or ambulatory electrocardiogram

b) Abnormal wall motion, reginal wall thinning or dilation of the left ventricle

c) Perfusion defect by 201-thallium myocardial scintigraphy or abnormal accumulation by 67Ga-citrate or 99mTc-PYP myocardial scintigraphy

d) Abnormal intracardiac pressure, low cardiac output, or abnormal wall motion or depressed ejection fraction of the left ventricle

e) Interstitial fibrosis or cellular infiltration over moderate grade, even if the findings are non-specific