Behcet's disease - An insight from a vascular surgeon's point of view

Abstract

Behcet's syndrome is a multisystem inflammatory disease with unknown aetiology, vasculitis being its major pathological feature. It runs an undulating course of exacerbations and remissions with a frequency that usually abates with the passage of time. Following its first description in the medical Literature in 1937, many clinical manifestations, including recurrent ulcerations, eye and urogenital lesions, pulmonary and vascular involvement with thrombus and aneurysm formation, arthritis and neurological features were reported. Various studies undertaken in two Medical Faculties of Istanbul University showed that more than 5000 patients have fulfilled three or more International Behcet's Disease Study Group Criteria and thus can be diagnosed as Behcet's Disease. A total of 142 cases with pulmonary, 30 cases with arterial (non-pulmonary) and 10 cases with cardiac involvement were demonstrated since 1978. A group of 174 neuro-Behcet's Disease patients (cerebral venous and vena caval thrombosis as the cause of intracranial hypertension, extracranial vertebral artery dissection) was evaluated.