A patient presenting with generalised lympadenopathy--sarcoidosis, lymphoma or tuberculosis?

Sarcoidosis, lymphoma and tuberculosis can often present with similar clinical features - for example, lymphadenopathy, fever, malaise, weight loss, respiratory symptoms, hypercalcaemia - making the establishment of the diagnosis difficult. The authors present a case of a 62-year-old woman with an established diagnosis of sarcoidosis affecting the lymph nodes, who subsequently developed high-grade T cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma; the patient was also treated for active tuberculosis at the same time. This case highlights that these conditions can co-exist and that the occurrence of new and rapidly progressive symptoms in patients with an established diagnosis should alert clinicians to vigilantly search for another possible diagnosis.