The repetitive vascular catastrophes of Behçet's disease: a case report with review of the literature

Abstract

Behçet's disease is a chronic, recurrent disease that most commonly presents as oral and genital ulcers and iritis. It is a multisystem disease with possible cardiovascular, pulmonary, neurologic, cutaneous and articular involvement. It is most often diagnosed in the 20 to 40 year age group, and vascular and neurologic involvement worsens the prognosis. Vascular manifestations include venous and arterial occlusions, arterial aneurysm and pseudoaneurysm formation. We present the case of a young man with Behçet's disease with multiple aneurysms, pseudoaneurysms, arterial occlusions and venous thrombosis with a literature review. Surgeons must consider Behçet's disease when dealing with aneurysms in young patients.