Intracranial hypertension in Behcet's disease

Abstract

Among 103 neuro-Behcet's disease (NBD) patients seen in an 8-year period, 16 patients with intracranial hypertension (IH) are presented, The main underlying cause of IH was cerebral venous thrombosis (10 patients), and one patient showed vena cava superior thrombosis, while in three patients angiographies and/or MRI studies remained negative, In the remaining two patients the investigations were not adequate to exclude cerebral venous thrombosis, In a mean follow-up period of 5 years, three patients had one recurrence of IH, and the three cases in whom cerebral venous thrombosis could not be documented despite adequate investigation had frequent relapses, On follow-up, none of the patients had any other types of neurologic involvement, Among the other manifestations of Behcet's disease thrombophlebitis was significantly higher, whereas uveitis was significantly lower in IH patients when compared with our remaining NBD patients, Intracranial hypertension is one of the major types of neurologic involvement in Behcet's disease, and seems to have different pathogenetic implications, usually with a better outcome than other types of neurologic involvement.