ArticleOpen heart2026
Tofacitinib in the treatment of cardiac sarcoidosis: towards steroid-sparing disease management.
Article in Open heart, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundCardiac sarcoidosis (CS) creates complex treatment challenges, especially for patients who fail to respond to immunosuppressive drugs, including second-line tumour necrosis factor inhibitors. These refractory cases frequently lead to serious complications and worse prognosis, prompting exploration of new therapies like Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors.
methodsThis study included eight patients with refractory CS or probable CS treated with the JAK inhibitor tofacitinib at the University Hospital Zurich from 2020 to 2024. Treatment outcomes were assessed through changes in myocardial as well as nodal and pulmonary inflammation via 18-F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/CT (18F-FDG PET/CT) scans, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), corticosteroid use and blood neopterin levels.
resultsSeven out of eight patients (87.5%) who received tofacitinib achieved inactive or remitting disease as assessed by repeat myocardial 18F-FDG PET/CT, with a decrease in both standardised uptake value (SUVmax and cardiac metabolic activity. In the treated patients, LVEF stabilised or improved, and the corticosteroid dose was substantially reduced, with the average daily prednisone dose dropping from 5.94 mg to 2.5 mg. Blood neopterin levels, indicative of macrophage activation, as well as extra cardiac SUVmax (nodal and pulmonal) as assessed by repeat 18F-FDG PET/CT also decreased in a majority of the treated patients.
conclusionTofacitinib shows promising results in managing treatment-refractory CS, with seven out of eight patients achieving significant reduction in myocardial inflammation and corticosteroid dependency. However, further studies with larger prospective cohorts are essential to solidify these findings and assess the drug's efficacy and safety profile in this complex patient group.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.